yesterday's ukuncut street party outside nick clegg's house was part of a nationwide action with parties taking place in half a dozen cities around the uk. the london party was a change in tactic, targetting a politician rather than tax avoiders or workfare exploiters. proving the old adage that you can't please all the people all of the time, the action has been condemned by some as crossing a line by taking place at a private home, and as ineffectual by others complaining at the lack of civil disobedience and direct action. however, it's hard to criticise the secrecy and organisation that effectively outwitted the police and delivered hundreds of people to right outside a security-sensitive address. 

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yesterday morning i joined one of four blocs (mine being the nhs bloc meeting opposite ucl hospital). there were a few dozen people there, watched by a inspector and several other uniformed police, backed up by a vanful of TSG across the road. mingling with the small crowd were a handful of "police liaison" officers in their "baby blue" tabards. these seemingly friendly and disarming coppers were to become a main feature of the day, working through the crowd and starting up apparently innocent conversations with any protestor willing to speak with them. 

at around 11.30 we were instructed to follow the yellow ukuncut flags and yellow umbrellas, and take a northern line tube south from warren street station. at waterloo the shout went out to get off and wait on the overground concourse. there, some TSG joined the uniforms, and also two chaps introduced themselves as academics researching the role and effectiveness of the liaison officers. meanwhile the liaising carried on, and a familiar format to the conversations began to emerge.

the liaison officers would target individuals or small groups and begin with a little harmless small talk, perhaps about the weather, how hot they were in uniform, or what a nice day for a picnic etc. they'd sometimes explain that they were there to repair some of the mistrust that had built up between protestors and police and to build bridges through communication. perhaps doreen lawrence, janet alder, sean riggs' family, and alfie meadows all have their very own liaison officers assigned to them 24 hours a day? 

after initial contact and some inane chit-chat, the real purpose of their role would be slipped through with a carefully placed passing question. examples might be "did you have a good journey here, will you have far to get home?", "have you been to many of these events before?", and so on. later in the day, once the target was revealed, a favourite inquiry was "did you know you were coming here?". as the afternoon progressed, they also engaged in political discourse, some claiming that if they weren't in uniform they'd probably be joining in, but slowly eliciting admissions from protestors as to what each thought was permissible in protest. i heard one activist openly telling these fluffy officers that he believed in property damage to make a point. no doubt that admission was put on file next to his image taken by the overt surveillance FIT team at the scene.

'fitwatch' have already identified several of the liaison officers as past or current forward intelligence personnel, and yesterday there was constant liaising going on between both teams. 

if the police were really interested in building bridges, facilitating protest, and reducing mistrust, the liaison officers would actually be independent, conflict-resolution-trained, and civilian. these officers are nothing more than the latest cynical intelligence-gathering operation (based on a german model of 'anti-conflict' officers, also thoroughly outed as intelligence agents). my advice would be - don't talk with them, ever. don't dance with them. don't accept their potato salad.

after a wait at waterloo, we received instruction to get on the hounslow train, and shortly after, what appeared to be hundreds more activists from the three other blocs, and accompanied by many more cops and liaisons, streamed onto the platform and joined the train. 

at putney station, the shout went out for our bloc, and another, to get off the train. we left two blocs on the train, and set off down the upper richmond road with our police minders exchanging information on their radios still apparently unaware of the target. our guides asked us to up the pace and try to keep together as we turned into a side road and made our way through salubrious and quiet residential streets, finally breaking into something of a run, challenging the overdressed riot cops alongside. suddenly we were at our destination, a narrow street to our right where an advance guard of wheelchair-bound activists from DPAC were already in wait. 

half a dozen riot cops ran ahead down the street in front of us, and although there weren't enough of them to resist a concerted break, it wasn't necessary, as we were right outside the imposing white building that is one of nick clegg's homes. picnic blankets went down, bunting went up, and what appeared to be a traditional british street party started up, the only incongruous image being the stream of TSG cops walking through to bolster their defences and stop the party from spreading.

there was a also a small cordon at the other end of the street, but the other blocs, arriving by a different route from barnes station, managed to break through that, and came down the street behind our police cordon, leaving the police somewhat kettled for a while before more TSG waded in and caused a bit of scuffling while both groups claimed their respective areas.

the party then continued all afternoon. the liaison officers danced a little, handed out potato salad, and asked their harmless little questions. the FIT teams lurked round the corner, recorded their intelligence notes on their microphones, and filmed the whole event. one photographer got taken aside and questioned why he was taking pictures of clegg's house. it was pointed out that a real terrorist would probably pick a quiet moment to take photos rather than one when the road was swarming with intelligence-gathering cops, unless i suppose it was some elaborate double-bluff. a number of photographers quickly organised a mass overt photo-taking of the house. he was allowed free. there was music, some speeches, some samba, loads of food and drink, some chalking, some throwing of wet and fluffy toys, lots of interviews, a smattering of mainstream media, and no arrests.

around 5, a consensus decision was made to all leave together at 6, and after clearing up any rubbish, taking down the bunting, and packing away the picnics, a few dozen remaining people set off together towards putney station. the lovely liaison officers forgot to offer an explanation for why a vanful of testosterone-fuelled TSG thugs suddenly joined the march, randomly pushing individuals towards the pavement instead of facilitating a short peaceful impromptu march back to the station.

as mentioned in my summary at the start of the article, there have been various voices carping at this action. some have complained that targetting a politician's private home is unfair, or that clegg's young children (if at home) might have been frightened. some responses to that criticism point out that the children of families turfed out of their homes by clegg's policies might be rather more frightened, and that anyway, we're not allowed to protest outside the building where clegg isn't even elected to co-lead. others have complained that ukuncut did not go far enough, that a street party isn't exactly a challenge to the neo-liberals. well, that may be true, but what is? do they think a few smashed windows or an occupation, or a street riot is any greater a challenge to the well-protected one percent? perhaps they'd advocate a bombing campaign or assassinations?

so for all the criticism, i think what was good about the ukuncut action was that once again, it brought together quite a wide constituency, it completely outsmarted the police, and it provided a template for organising mass action that others can learn from. it also got positive mainstream coverage that for the most part for once mentioned the issues. what's not to like? 

remember, police liaison officers are not your friends!