A bunch of Atos-sers are occupied!

Yesterday afternoon (Thursday 11/05/2011) at 4:30pm, about twenty five activists turned up to picket the Cambridge offices of a private company now infamous for issuing highly suspect medical assessments, which have seen many sickness and incapacity benefits claimants having their money cut.

Despite there being many sucessful appeals against these decisions (currently a 40% success rate), this company is still being subcontracted by the government to carry out its nefarious deeds.

Their name is Atos, and they currently reside at 24 Hills Road, Cambridge, although they seem to be ashamed to admit it, as there are no signs outside for them, only two for "Jobcentre Plus", presumably the official smokescreen Atos are hiding behind.

The 'big society' Cameron would rather forget.

Faces blurred to protect the angry!

Only care about the bottom line, ladies and gentlemen...

No scroungers were present yesterday...

A successful piece of Activist Feng Shui!

A slightly more welcoming (and truthful) entrance...

Calling a spade a spade.

Class War yes, but initiated from the top down...

How big do you want it, Dave - Supersized maybe?

Is that a large green Afro, or are they hiding under a tree?

Security was surprisingly slack, and several activists managed to let themselves in and proceeded to occupy the building for several hours, not leaving until at least 11:00pm last night, in the meantime brightening up the place with posters, banners on the roof and a placard reading "THIS IS CLASS WAR" stuck over the Jobcentre sign outside!

See photos of some of this artwork.

The police presence was suspiciously low key for such an action, with just two female PCSOs initially arriving on the scene, then later on two PCs arrived and stood across the road from the building and appeared on the face of it to be doing very little, apart from one of them briefly 'hiding' behind a tree!

The overall atmosphere was upbeat and peaceful, despite the rather oppressive reasons for everyone being there.

On the Atos website, they say the following:
"Atos Healthcare is proud to lead improvements in the way care is delivered, giving control to patients and helping them choose how to manage their health."

So, it would seem they interpret 'managing heath' and 'giving control to patients' as providing medically suspect diagnosis of sick people , declaring them 'fit for work' who then go on to be downgraded to Jobseekers Allowance.

All part of their aftercare service I geuss.

...And also part of an overall policy of class war from the top down by a small elite gang who call themselves the Conservative Party, who are currently embarking on a vast programme of wrecking what is left of our social fabric, in the form of cuts to local council services, increases in tuition fees and cuts to higher education funding, cuts to arts funding, the deconstruction of the NHS, three wars in three countries (don't believe the hype, they're ALL still running), and now attempts at wrecking the benefits system, all while for the last six months the UK economy has completely flatlined, according to yesterday's Treasury announcement.

Oh yes, and letting them do it all, the wet blanket Liberal Democrats, who have shared the same bed with the terrible Tories for the last year.

Remind me again, why should we vote again for any of these muppets?

Expect more anger, expect more protests, in what is still early days for our very own Summer of Discontent.

Cameraboy
Homepage: http://www.cambridgeshireagainstthecuts.org.uk/

Comments

Hide the following 6 comments

Brilliant!

12.05.2011 20:32

When people go to the CAB or other advice centres the number of people winning their appeals rises to over 70%.

Martin O'Neill

10/10

12.05.2011 20:40

Great action, great post!

'Remind me again, why should we vote again for any of these muppets?'

Does this comment include Labour, i hope so!

Gonzo

Beautiful

12.05.2011 23:22

Awesome banners and excellent photos of them.

Panda

cambridge atos meeting thisd saturday

13.05.2011 09:20

Saturday 14th of May, 3pm

Atos Campaign Meeting
Arts Picturehouse Bar, Cambridge, above Wetherspoons on St Andrew’s Street

A meeting called to take the local campaign against Atos further. All welcome. Access Info:

Wheelchair Access: Yes. Enter via ramp to right of Weatherspoons pub, then take lift to first floor for box office or second floor for cafe
Visual Impairments: Brightly lit and airy
Hearing Impairments: Generally quiet, except when busy
Disabled toilets: Yes, on first floor
Parking: Some disabled bays on Regent Street

claimantsfightback

As bad as each other!

13.05.2011 09:31

"Does this comment include Labour, i hope so! "

Of course, they're all as bad as each other - in my humble opinion, none of them really have our best interests at heart.

Picture compliments appreciated by the way, as it takes a few hours to get things web-ready and do colour correction. I've yet to use a digital camera that can capture nice colours, hence the extra colour correction work.

Cameraboy

BRILLIANT ....

18.05.2011 12:14

ACT AS IF WHAT YOU DO MAKES A DIFFERENCE, ( BECAUSE IT DOES )

The secret of getting started is breaking
your complex, overwhelming tasks into
small manageable tasks, and then
starting on the first one."
- Mark Twain

signed FUCK A T O S

john shemmings