March 26th: The Big One
anon@indymedia.org (Three Word Chant) , 27-03-2011 - 22:22

In the run-up to March 26th, I developed two criteria by which to measure success: (1) it had to be big, i.e. the biggest thing since the February 15th anti-war march; and (2) it had to be a clear statement that the anti-cuts movement would not allow the TUC to strangle its militancy. On both counts I think it can broadly be considered successful.

Calculating the size of marches is notoriously difficult with police and organiser estimates typically varying by anything up to 100%. This time, organisers have put the attendance at anything between 250-500,000. Certainly, it was nowhere near the size of the February 15th anti-war march. That completely dominated vast areas of central London. Despite having two starting points and beginning early, it still remained almost static throughout. By contrast, the anti-cuts march flowed relatively quickly and many people I spoke to managed to complete the whole length (although I didn't bother).

I joined the education/book bloc feeder, catching it up part way along its route to the official start point. This numbered, perhaps a few thousand, growing as it made its way through London. In fact, it was bigger than some full-blown demos I've been on. Made up predominantly of students, quite a few of them masked up, I was surprised by the low-key police response, although we were followed much of the way in by a police helicopter.

The march itself was impressive in its scale. The unions were out in force, with an array of banners from branches across the country. Just the ones I saw included: GMB, RMT, Unison, Unite, PCS, NAPO, Musicians Union, BETCU, NUJ, TSSA, ASLEF, NUT, NASUWT, FBU, UCU and CWU. There were also a number of political parties out with the Green Party, Labour and even a small group of LibDems keen to explain that "we don't agree with Nick." And of course, there were the usual array of lefty sects, providing an exciting day out for even the most experienced lefty trainspotter: SWP, Socialist Party, RCPBML, CPGB, AWL, AGS, CPB, the Sparts and many others.

There were also a wide range of local anti-cuts groups, campaigning organisations and even a few seemingly ordinary people. The crowd was also peppered with a number of bands and soundsystems as an alternative to the otherwise repetitive chanting. Among these, that which seemed to be accompanying the Federation of Entertainment Unions (NUJ, BETCU, Equity, Musicians Union) were, perhaps unsurprisingly the best, playing a funky jazz sound.

The march followed a route familiar from a number of previous marches. Forming up on Embankment, protesters made their way down past Parliament up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square then on up to Picadilly Circus before making their way down Picadilly into Hyde Park for the rally. Here they were to be addressed by the great and the good, including prominent cuts supporter and Labour leader Ed Milliband. The rally seemed to be compèred by Tony Robinson, who may or may not have had a cunning plan for how to beat the cuts.

Despite an impressive festival-style audio set-up, it was actually very difficult to hear what was being said from the stage, not that I was all that interested in being told why I was there by an assortment of trade union bureaucrats and Z-List celebrities. Instead after a brief break, I headed down to Oxford Street to see how the UK Uncut actions were going.

By the time I arrived, it was around 3pm and police were already securing anything up to half of the shops. Many, but not all of them, had helmeted up. There was a rumour that somebody was on the roof of HSBC, but exactly where this was supposed to be, or whether it was true I never did find out. Things briefly got more exciting as the Black Bloc arrived, perhaps 5-600-strong followed several van-loads of Met Police.

A large group had accumulated at Oxford Circus for the much-hyped UK Uncut surprise occupation. Keen to avoid walking into a kettle I skirted the edge of this crowd trying to work out what was going on. The police seemed to be guarding the Apple Store, lining up in-front of it in riot gear, although I'm not entirely sure if this was ever a target.

After a while, a group of protesters broke of from the crowd and headed down Regent Street towards Picadilly Circus. From this point, I lost any sense of the big picture. There seemed to be several groups of people roaming around central London. As others have noted, these groups seemed to be very aware of police tactics and responded collectively and effectively. Nearly everybody was masked up and the vast majority in black. It was notable that they were overwhelmingly young.

There were a number of fires lit around Picadilly Circus with at least 2 fire engines being brought in to deal with them. Police vans whizzed around sirens going, the Met clearly struggling to stay on top of a situation they self evidently had no control over. Wandering down Picadilly later there were broken windows and graffiti at The Ritz and broken windows at Boots, Starbucks and even IranAir.

At Trafalgar Square, things were less confrontational (at least while I was there) with perhaps a couple of thousand gathered around Nelson's Column with fires and a soundsystem. Among the stranger sights here was somebody dressed as a Dalek dancing to the music.

The occupation at Hyde Park was not huge with perhaps 100-150 people by around 8pm, although people were still arriving and putting up tents at that time. Again occupiers were amusing themselves with fires and music. Here there was no obvious police presence whatsoever, although they may have put in an appearance after I left.

Overall, as I suggested above, a success. But we should not and cannot rest on our laurels. Now the TUC have marched their soldiers up to the top of the hill, the question arises, "What next?" TUC general secretary Brendan Barber has suggested that this is the end of the "phoney war" with the government, but the TUC actively collaborated with the police to try and avoid disorder at the demonstration, going far beyond the usual agreements which precede other large demonstrations in London. So they cannot be relied on to do what is required.

There is also a bigger issue here. Even with all its paid officers, an army of trained volunteers, an extensive publicity machine, vast financial reserves and membership numbering in the millions, the entire trade union movement going full-out for 6 months was only able to muster perhaps half a million. This in comparison to the almost entirely amateur anti-war movement (a handful of full-time Trots hardly count), which has access to nothing like the same level of resources, and on February 15th managed to turn out anything between 1-2 million.

While I don't want to dismiss the TUC's achievement out of hand - 500,000 is a lot of people - I think this should give pause to those advocating an entirely industrial response to the cuts, I'm looking at you the one-day general strike brigade. It isn't immediately clear we can guarantee widespread support for such an action, even if it was anything other than a exercise to let-off steam. So far Greece has had 8 general strikes in response to austerity measures with little obvious success.

Equally, the anarchist response is clearly insufficient. As inspiring as the Black Bloc and other actions were, it is all too easy for state capitalism to weather occasional, one-off set-piece confrontations. What is needed is to take that militancy back into our communities. Exactly what forms that will take will inevitably depend on the particular circumstances of any given area. Twenty years ago the Poll Tax was beaten because it was impossible to impose it. The cuts are a bigger, more general attack, but once again we need ensure that they become impossible to implement.

The battle lines have been drawn. This is just the beginning. I'll see you on the barricades.

The Protest, The Police & The Press
dominic.kavakeb@gmail.com (Dominic Kavakeb) , 27-03-2011 - 21:22

The media have once again jumped all over themselves to attack protesters and violence. As ever they miss the point and refuse to understand the reasons behind political violence.

Another mass demonstration in London and once again the headlines are filled with stories of Anarchy in the UK. At least half a million people, from all walks of life, took to the streets on Saturday to register their disgust at the brutal and savage cuts being forced upon the British population by the ConDem Coalition.

But this in itself shouldn’t come as a surprise and in reality is understandable. Given the choice between pictures of Ed Miliband speaking from Hyde Park and the smashed up windows of luxury shops, it’s no contest. On going battles between police and masked clad protesters certainly makes for a compelling story.

The real failure of the media is not to portray the violence; it is their refusal to understand it. The large majority of the media painted angry young demonstrators as mindless vandals and criminals with a thirst for violence. The language I heard from the likes of Sky News and the BBC was at best sensationalist at worse biased. Even murder suspects aren’t afforded such impartiality.

One Sky News anchor referred to protesters as ‘criminals who have nothing to do with the real message hijacking a peaceful protest’. Sadly this is a narrative repeated across the media, as well in the Police force and even in some sections of the trade unions.

But was this really mindless vandalism? Whatever one thinks about the political tactic used by those who attacked businesses it is impossible to not understand the symbolism. Particular shops were attacked for particular reasons. Vodafone and Top Shop are accused of dodging taxes at a time when we are in desperate need of their contribution.

As for Fortnum and Mason and the Ritz, these are clearly symbols of the million and billionaire elite that are riding scot-free whilst the poor are made to suffer. The Tories like to repeat the false notion that we are all in this together. A few broken windows are nothing compared to having your welfare slashed or education allowance removed.

This is what the mainstream media fails to report. This is where they let down their audience and deceive their viewers. True, violence might not be the answer to the spending cuts but to divorce the violence from the politics is a dastardly tactic of the media.

What’s more this painting of protestors as having a thirst for blood is plain wrong. At one point outside Fortnum and Mason I saw around 10 police officers grossly out numbered by protestors, most of whom looked particularly angry. But given that at that moment the police posed no immediate threat there was no attempt to attack the clearly scared officers. They danced around for a few minutes, celebrated their victory and moved on!

On the other hand the real violence always comes from the boys in blue. I was in Trafalgar Square until around 9pm. The atmosphere was jovial, people were dancing, singing, rapping and generally having fun. No major crime. But as I returned home I saw the horrific violence that was taking place.

Speaking to those who were there the police had suddenly and with great force moved into the square to rid it of the people. So where does the real violence come from? And why does the media refrain from reporting this? Once again I saw Sky News telling the story of glass bottles being thrown at police. Not once did they mention the casualties amongst the protestors or the swinging police truncheons.

I did not take part in any violent actions on Saturday. I don’t think it really helps the cause but I understand and sympathise with the anger behind it. The mass media in Britain does not. This is their failure and this exposes the inherent bias within our press. For every action there is a thought process behind it. After all what’s a few smashed windows compared to a series of cuts that will decimate the futures of a whole generation?

Symbols of Wealth Targeted - Global corporations
27-03-2011 - 19:23

thousands of people in fluid and well organised break away groups took to the streets to show their anger at the inequalities of a capitalist system that continues to reward the rich at the expense of the poor and working classes. Global corporations, banks and symbols of decadence where all targeted throughout the day.

Symbols of Wealth Targeted - Banks
27-03-2011 - 19:23

thousands of people in fluid and well organised break away groups took to the streets to show their anger at the inequalities of a capitalist system that continues to reward the rich at the expense of the poor and working classes. Global corporations, banks and symbols of decadence where all targeted throughout the day.

Symbols of Wealth Targeted - Symbols of decadence
27-03-2011 - 19:23

thousands of people in fluid and well organised break away groups took to the streets to show their anger at the inequalities of a capitalist system that continues to reward the rich at the expense of the poor and working classes. Global corporations, banks and symbols of decadence where all targeted throughout the day.

Random snaps from march 26th protests
anon@indymedia.org (Claire) , 27-03-2011 - 18:22

Some random snaps:

Refuse Resist Occupy.

Pics of UKuncut Fortnam + Mason Mass Arrests
anon@indymedia.org (Solidarity) , 27-03-2011 - 17:22

Scores of people were arrested last night after the UKuncut action at Fortnum and Mason. Inside the occupation [see press release] all was pretty chill [see youtube video and pics] although there had been some initial scuffles earlier outside - one door had been blocked by police officers and some tried to push past to get inside, at the same time further along the shopfront another door was wide open and people were just calmly walking inside.

Whilst flags were waved out of windows and signs held up at others a huge crowd of TUC marchers cheered from the street looking on. Later more police arrived and tried to block the side street, parts of the crowd linked arms to block the vans, whilst others tried to push through police lines. As time went on more scuffles occured as police pushed people back. Other people from the crowd climbed up the side of ther building and took to the balcony. In the end large numbers of riot police split the crowd, pushing it away from Fortnums in different directions.

Those inside were discussing what to do and were in contact with the police (as can be seen from the pics linked above). They were told if they left of their own accord they would be allowed to go. This wasn't the case. They were surrounded and then one by one handcuffed, filmed, then lined up in a long line in the side street, searched, and loaded onto two coaches and othger police vans to be taken to police stations across London.

It's interesting to note the public police take on this was that by the time they moved to make arrests 'all the peaceful people had left' and those that remained were criminals. Not falling into the trap of dividing people into neat categories, the truth is that after the police cleared the road, the only people left at Fortnums were the ones that had been inside, making speeches, holding meetings and standing up for the belief that we need to take direct action to change our society.

See http://www.ukuncut.org.uk

M26 Video - Oxford Circus
27-03-2011 - 16:22

Great Atmosphere!

A rare moment - cop vans retreating
27-03-2011 - 15:22

Crowd charges cop vans on Shaftesbury Avenue, though there are more hands pointing cameras than chucking stuff.

M26 - Kennington to Trafalgar Square
27-03-2011 - 15:22

Meeting in Kennington Park at 10 am, the feeder was loud an powerful. Seeing the diversity of the people taking to the streets was amazing!

Before turning onto Westminster birdge, there was some confusion where we were going to go. Some said Waterloo bridge was the place to be, while other's insisted on taking Westminster bridge. At the corner of Victoria Embankment and Westminster bridge the crowd came to a halt, with people in every direction as far as the eye could see. All the way down Whitehall it was so crowded, it was hard to move around. Opposite Downing Street TSG was lined up, prepared to baton their way through the thick crowd at any sign of trouble.

For a protest of this size the atmosphere seemed a bit subdued, just as if people actually believed that their being on the streets could achieve anything. Except for the women block who inserted a bit of energy into the crowd. I guess their used to unfavourable odds.

M26 Video - Outside Fortnum & Mason
27-03-2011 - 15:22

I hope people inside got to taste some of the expensive champagne... Good luck to all the arrestees!

Oxford Circus 26 March
27-03-2011 - 14:22

Demo at Oxford Circus, 26 March

Peace Horse entering Oxford Street
27-03-2011 - 13:22

Just 15 or so seconds of video. but only a moving image could make the horse justice.

Symbols of decadence
27-03-2011 - 11:22

video rush
Read more >>

Global corporations
27-03-2011 - 10:22

video rush

Banks
27-03-2011 - 10:22

video rush
Read more >>

Pictures and videos from 26th March
anon@indymedia.org (Just one more reporter) , 27-03-2011 - 09:22

You've seen them on telly, you've heard them on the radio, you've read them on the papers: "Anarchists rioting", "Anarchists protesting", "Anarchists this", "Anarchists that", "Anarchists ate my children..." (ok this last one was a spoof).

Today, when a BBC reporter actually had some demonstrators holding anarchist flags, this is what he had to say: "strange banners! only red, and blag, with nothing written on them! nothing else to report!"

The pictures and videos are taken from different points in the demonstration.

To see more pictures ... publish your own!

HSBC, Lloyds and Porsche Targeted on March 26th
anon@indymedia.org (Heavy) , 26-03-2011 - 23:22

Photos from the action on March the 26th in London, England

The People of the UK came out in force today to show their disgust with this government of liars and millionaires, and their policies of unjust cuts. Many companies and banks were targeted for direct action, due to their complicity in a system that increases inequality, or for serving an elite that does not deserve indefensible luxury.

This is what happens

Anti-Cuts Demo - Kennington Feeder March
anon@indymedia.org (amcw) , 26-03-2011 - 23:22

We marched from Kennington Park and made our way up to Waterloo, joined the main march at Westminster Bridge and then moved slowly, past Downing Street and on to and Trafalgar Square. From there we broke off from the main march and on to Oxford Street where a number of shops were in the process of being targeted for unpaid taxes...

General good humour except at the odd police obstruction or attempted kettle. Passers-by and shoppers seemed pretty unfazed by most of the events. Police seemed overwhelmed & stretched at times or resigned & disinterested during many of the actions we witnessed.

Surveying the Aftermath
anon@indymedia.org (Syder) , 26-03-2011 - 23:22

Images from Piccadily at 9:30pm

Images from Piccadily at 9:30pm