UK Promoted Newswire Archive
All of the Thessaloniki 4 are free
01-02-2011 17:43
The four comrades, including UK anarchist Simon Chapman, have been found not guilty for all (except one minor charge) in Greek court of the charges going back to the EU Summit protests and riots in Thessaloniki in 2003.Palestine Today 02 01 2011
01-02-2011 16:15
Tar Sands protest at Canadian High Commission
01-02-2011 03:29
“Stop sabotaging climate action!”
Tar Sands protest at the Canadian High Commission marks Minister’s visit
31.01.11: This morning a group of campaigners protested outside the Canadian High Commission in London, to mark the visit of Ron Liepert, Alberta’s Energy Minister. The minister is here to lobby on behalf of the Province of Alberta’s Tar Sands industry, and encourage Europe to get more involved in what has been dubbed the world’s most destructive project.
http://www.no-tar-sands.org/?p=391
The protesters held banners saying “Stop the Tar Sands Trade Talks” and “Canadian Tar Sands: Global Climate Crime” outside the High Commission in Grosvenor Square, and handed out flyers. There was heavy security, and they were not allowed to meet the Minster himself, nor even hand in a letter for him, explaining their concerns.
Unbeknownst to most citizens, the EU and Canada are in the midst of negotiating an ambitious free trade deal (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, or CETA). The Albertan and Canadian governments are trying to use these talks to undermine EU climate policy. Specifically, they are pressuring the EU to water down a key piece of climate legislation (the Fuel Quality Directive, or FQD), calling it an “unfair trade barrier” [2]. The FQD is currently on course to set a precedent in recognising, and penalising, Tar Sands oil as dirty oil.
Liepert’s trip is clearly timed to influence vital decisions around CETA and the FQD that are being taken in Europe over the next few weeks. After two days in London, where he will meet, among others, the Canadian High Commissioner, the UK Minister of State for Commonwealth Affairs, and many oil and gas industry representatives, he will travel to Brussels to lobby members of European Parliament, the chair of the Environment Committee and the Commissioner for Energy for the EU Parliament [3].
Today’s protest is just the latest expression of opposition to the Tar Sands in the UK. In the past year, British shareholders, NGOs, politicians and campaigners have expressed increasing concern over the involvement of UK banks and oil companies in the highly polluting extraction of “dirty oil” from the Tar Sands [4]. Emitting three to five times as much CO2 as conventional oil drilling, the Tar Sands industry is destroying the livelihoods and health of local Indigenous communities and decimating ancient forests and wildlife across an area of Alberta larger than England [5].
Suzanne Dhaliwal from the UK Tar Sands Network said: “Ron Liepert has come to London on a mission to scupper the EU’s attempts to ban Tar Sands oil imports into Europe. This blatant meddling on behalf of Big Oil is unacceptable. Europe must put effective climate action ahead of corporate profits, by standing firm on the Fuel Quality Directive and putting the CETA negotiations on hold.”
Andrea Harden, Energy Campaigner for the Council of Canadians added: “No doubt Liepert will be extolling the virtues of the Tar Sands as so-called ‘ethical oil’. They are nothing of the kind. The watershed is showing signs of stress, massive toxic tailings ponds are leaking, people downstream are getting sick and the Tar Sands are Canada’s largest source of industrial carbon emissions. What’s ethical about that?”
ENDS
Notes for editors
[1] The CETA negotiations are about halfway through and due to be completed towards the end of 2011. The latest round of talks took place in Brussels earlier this month, and were targeted by Tar Sands protests. For a full explanation of the problems with CETA, please see “Keep Europe out of the Tar Sands!”, a briefing by Council of Canadians, Indigenous Environmental Network and UK Tar Sands Network.
[2] The EU has been negotiating a ‘Fuel Quality Directive’ (FQD), aimed at encouraging the use of low carbon energy products and discouraging the use of high-emission crude oil. In its original form the FQD would have prevented fuels with a high carbon content from being used in Europe – an effective ban on Tar Sands . But the initial draft has been significantly weakened following Canadian lobbying, and all reference to Tar Sands has been removed until after the CETA negotiations.
[3] Ron Liepert’s full itinerary can be seen here.
[4] The last 18 months have seen a growing number of organisations taking action against British banks and companies with links to the Tar Sands. Both BP and Shell have faced shareholder resolutions over their Tar Sands investments, as well as protests at their offices and petrol stations. The Royal Bank of Scotland has also come under fire for being the 7th largest global investor in the industry, using British taxpayers’ money, and were targeted by the Camp for Climate Action, who camped for a week in the grounds of their global headquarters in Edinburgh last summer. For more information see:
Indigenous Environmental Network
UK Tar Sands Network
FairPensions
PLATFORM
Camp for Climate Action
[5] For more information on the destructive nature of the Tar Sands, please see:
Indigenous Environmental Network’s Tar Sands campaign
Dirty Oil Sands
UK Tar Sands Network
Cuts Cafe Occupied!
31-01-2011 21:22
A group of Leeds residents have reclaimed a disused city building for a week of community-led events.
Today, in the early hours of the morning, a group of Leeds residents occupied 10 Templar Street, part of the Eastgate and Harewood Quarter development, which they hope to hold for a week1. The group have announced a timetable of events and activities orientated around protest over planned welfare cuts and city-centre gentrification.
Video: UKuncut action at Boots (b4 pepper spray)
31-01-2011 21:22
Boots on Oxford street was shut down by protesters campaigning against cuts on Saturday 30th January 2011. Also targeted were Vodaphone, BHS, Topshop and Tescos.
All was fine, until a particular police officer decided to use CS spray against protesters! This is a short video of the demo before the trouble.
The Ukuncut protest was part of a nationwide series of around 30 actions.
See report + pics of the action + report of CS spray incident.
Anti-cuts demo 29 january, a few random pics
31-01-2011 21:22
Here there are a few more random pics of the first part - the official bit - of last saturday's anti-cuts demo in central London.
.
Crisis in Care: Interview with an anarchist support worker
31-01-2011 20:57
The Fargate Speaker talks to a local support worker about the problems in social care as a result of the recession and the proposed austerity measures.More photos and audio from Oxford UKUncut Vodafone demo
31-01-2011 17:31
Palestine Today 01 31 2011
31-01-2011 15:26
Students face disciplinary action after protest
30-01-2011 13:46
Ten University of Birmingham students are facing disciplinary action that could lead to expulsion after a peaceful sit-in that ended with forceful eviction by university security and the police.The University has seemingly singled out students who they perceive to be politically active in an attempt to victimise them. Twenty-five students participated in the occupation; ten students are facing disciplinary procedures including one who was not even involved. The hearings will take place on Wednesday, 2nd February.
please sign our petition we need your help:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/defendbirminghamstudents/
Full article | 1 addition | 10 comments
Vodafone closed down in Oxford for refusing to pay taxes.
30-01-2011 13:24
Saving Temple Cowley Pools at the Council - Video
30-01-2011 10:59
The video of the Full Council Meeting where members of the Save Temple Cowley Pools Campaign addressed and questioned the labour administration in full here: http://www.oxford.gov.uk/PageRender/decCD/FullCouncilVideo24January2011.htm From about 11 mins 15 seconds....
Thessaloniki 4 trial, update days #4-5
29-01-2011 14:22
Update from days #4-5 of the Court of Appeals of our four comrades in Thessaloniki, Greece. Final police witnesses gave evidence against Michalis and Simon, closing the prosecution case. The defence presented video showing Michalis and Simon and examined the arresting officers. On Tuesday 25 January, defence witness gave evidence for all four defendants, who then themselves gave testimony at the end of day 5. Background information at http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk/
For previous court reports, see:
Day 1: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6948
Day 2: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6957
Day 3: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/7001
Monday 24 January 2011, 9am, Thessaloniki Courthouse.
Officer #15 arrested Michalis and alleged that he was carrying a bag containing 3 molotovs, 4 masks and a powerful slingshot. He stated that he had seen Michalis throw many molotovs over a period of 30 minutes. He couldn't remember if Michalis was wearing gloves, or if he was wearing a mask. He didn't know what happened to the bag after Michalis was handed over to the arrest team.
The defence noted that it was strange that Michalis could not be seen wearing a mask in the video footage presented at the first trial, but that he had four gas masks in his bag: why would he have done that? Officer #15 either didn't know or couldn't remember the answer to a very large number of questions, and was the sole prosecution against Michalis.
Next, a defence witness was called for Fernando: they had been together in the demonstration, only losing Fernando in the clouds of tear gas. He said Fernando had not thrown anything, neither stones nor molotovs, and had not been carrying any type of rucksack with him, just a plastic carrier bag with some water. He said that in Spain, if a demonstration was becoming violent and illegal, the police would use megaphones to warn people to disperse or face the consequences. This does not happen in Greece and subsequently they did not understand the risks they were running. He gave evidence of how Fernando was a hard worker and active citizen in Spain, and that Fernando had lost his job there in order to be at this trial.
The next four police witnesses (Officers #16 - 19) were all giving evidence against Simon, and all said pretty much the same things: they could clearly identify Simon because of the orange arm padding he wore, that he threw only one molotov, that he was wearing the blue rucksack on his back and carrying the black one with his left arm. They all said they didn't beat Simon and didn't know how he had come to be injured. They had all given evidence after reviewing the video and the photos five months after the initial arrest. Officer #18 made an interesting remark: that his squad had been running around the city when they took Simon with them (who, by their own testimony, was handcuffed, soaked in petrol, carrying a bag full of molotovs). They had all admitted that there were continuing confrontations in this 2-3 hour period. Officer #19 could remember smelling petrol from one of the bags after Simon 'had fallen over', even though he was wearing a gas mask.
This was the end of the prosecution evidence.
After a break, a more entire sequence of video of Michalis was presented, and showed that, just after the point of arrest, no policeman near him was carrying the alleged rucksack, and that there were none on the street in view, as the camera makes a full 360 degree pan around the scene. Michalis' arresting officer (Officer #15) had testified in the first trial and at this trial that he had the rucksack in his hand from the arrest to the point where he placed Michalis in the arrest car. No such rucksack could be seen, and was never subsequently identified, or presented in evidence to the court.
The police witnesses against Simon were shown the video where cops are placing bags all around Simon. One sequence was interesting - a black rucksack, obviously leaking a large amount of fluid (petrol?) is placed next to Simon. None of the cops present said they were that policeman. The cops maintained that the safest place to store the bags they found in the street was all around Simon.
After this, several trolleys of large cardboard boxes containing a variety of rucksacks were wheeled into court. Police officer #6 had stated that the bags being delivered to the police station had been labeled with the arrestee's names. None of the bags had any form of label or identification on them.
The last witness of the day was for the defence of Kastro: she was a worker's union organiser who knew Kastro from his role in helping immigrant workers' organisations in Crete. She had been at the main square from 5.30 until 6.30 and testified that there were no confrontations between police or people in the square at that time. The police had testified that Kastro was throwing molotovs at them during this period. She had seen Kastro near the stage around this time. She had passed through the square the following day and had not seen any scorch marks where the police had alleged that Kastro had been throwing molotovs at them.
The day ended 14.45 GMT+2.
Tuesday 25 January 2011, 9am, Thessaloniki Courthouse.
(Day 5: for clarity, the information below has been put in a simpler order to help readers make sense of it: in reality, the day was disjointed with first one witness for one defendant, then for another defendant, then for another, then a break, then back to the first defendant etc. )
Two witnesses were called for the defence of Michalis. They had been with him on the day of the demonstration and testified that he had not been wearing a rucksack, as they could see him clearly from behind. Neither had seen him thrown anything, and had lost him in the gas clouds. Both testimonies were dealt with in 10 minutes each.
Three witnesses for Kastro were called. The first knew Kastro from Crete for many years, and testified on Kastro's personality, and that he had not taken a rucksack that morning when he left their shared flat. He was asked if it was possible that Kastro would have taken his residence permit with him and left it in a rucksack - the witness replied that Kastro did not have a residence permit. Kastro had applied for a permit in 1997 and had been rejected. This alleged document was anyway not included on the list of possession's made by the arresting officer.
Kastro's second witness was a doctor who had seen Kastro around 6pm at the Venizelos statue (not, as according to the police, in a mob chucking molotovs at them). He said that he had many discussions with Kastro at the anti-racist festival held in Thessaloniki a week before the EU demonstration and did not think he was in any way a violent person, and he didn't recall Kastro having a rucksack with him. Kastro's last witness was a professor from the university who knew Kastro from Crete, who testified that Kastro was not a violent person, but was hard-working and had perhaps been victimised due to his immigrant status. Again, these witnesses were dealt with very quickly.
There was a 2 hour sequence where documents supporting each defendant were presented to the judges, such as work and character references, letters of solidarity and concern from various social, political and human rights organisations. One interesting document was a newspaper report from Spain on how some demonstrators had successfully sued the Barcelona police for planting bags of molotovs on them at the earlier EU summit demonstrations in 2002.
Also, the reasoning for dropping the charges against each defendant - originally made in February 2004 - were read to the court. After the charges were reinstated and brought to trial in 2008, dissenting minority reports were made (ie, by those on the panel of 3 judges and 4 jurors who believed the defendants to be innocent but who had been out-voted in the deliberations) and were read out for each defendant. These minority reports outlined many of the recurring features that would arise in appeal trial: contradictions between officers, doubts about identification, lack of evidence, lack of detail, problems with initial arrest statements etc.
The last 3 witnesses called were for Simon. The first knew Simon for many years from London, and testified that the demonstration culture in the UK did not include either tear gas or the use of molotovs, and that it was not in Simon's character to act in such a way as alleged by the police. The last two had been with Simon on the demonstration up until only minutes before his arrest, and both stated that Simon had only one rucksack, a blue one with some clothes and some water. They knew this as they had all checked they had enough water before heading off. They both testified to feeling trapped in clouds of gas as the demonstration was cut up into smaller parts by charging police on all sides. Again, these witnesses were dealt with very quickly.
Then it was finally the turn of the defendants to give their evidence. Michalis' lawyer spoke on his behalf (Michalis is on remand for another offence) against the criminalisation of those who identify themselves as anarchists. All three defendants in court rejected the charges against them. It was near the end of the day and the judges and jury were clearly wilting in the afternoon sunshine pouring through the windows. After a few questions from the prosecutor and the senior judge, the defendants testimony was completed and court closed for the day. It all seemed to have ended too quickly, almost as if the defendants' evidence was irrelevant.
The next day, Wednesday 26 January 2011, would hear the prosecutor's accusations, followed by the defence lawyers' summing up. Result was expected for that afternoon...
Court ended at 15.15 GMT+2
++ Spread the word
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Join and share the facebook page at:
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or join and share the facebook group:
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Solidarity for the Thessaloniki 4!
http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk/
Films on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThessaloniki4
Thessaloniki 4 trial, update day #6
29-01-2011 14:22
Update from day #6 of the Court of Appeals of our four comrades in Thessaloniki, Greece. The prosecutor explained the basis of the laws under which the four defendants are accused and his opinion on which charges should be pursued. Defence lawyers gave their summing up of the cases. The plan was for the trial to end today... Background information at http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk
For previous court reports, see:
Day 1: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6948
Day 2: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/6957
Day 3: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/7001
Days 4-5: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/7102
Wednesday 26 January 2011, 9am, Thessaloniki Courthouse.
With the prosecution having been completed and the defence witnesses rather hastily examined, it was now the job of the prosecutor to outline the reasoning of the laws being used to charge the defendants.
The charges were: causing explosions with the intent to endanger human life, possession of materials or devices designed to cause explosions. The point here is that possession can be proven even if the explosives were in your possession for a second. Causing explosions was intricately linked to possession, ie, you had to possess in order to cause, though they stood as separate charges. Combining the act of possession and causation created the offence of 'Distinguished riot'.
So far so good. Or bad, depending on how you look at it.
He outlined what had happened in Genoa in 2001, and the expectation of trouble at the June 2003 EU summit in Thessaloniki. The 'Black Bloc' was expected to be present, and would be prepared, armed with a variety of weapons with the intent to endanger life and property in defiance of authority. In the event, shops, cars and offices were attacked, damaged or burnt. 8 police were injured.
For Michalis, he demanded that he be convicted of causing continuous explosions - more serious than causing a single explosion. He could not believe that policeman today could be either mistaken in identification or be lying: if the cops had wanted to fabricate evidence they would have used more than one police witness against Michalis. He concluded that the decision of the first trial was correct and that Michalis should be convicted of causing continuous explosions, possession of explosives and distinguished riot.
For Kastro, he said that he had thrown 10 molotovs, though without endangering life. In that sense, the causation charge was dropped but he demanded prosecution for possession of explosives, and of distinguished riot.
For Fernando, both the possession and use of explosives was not proven due to doubts about identification and the unreliability of the police witnesses. He requested that all charges against Fernando be dropped.
For Simon, he was satisfied that he had caused one single explosion with intent to endanger life (in the first trial it had been continuous explosions), that the possession of 7 molotovs was proven by 9 witnesses against him, and he could not believe that 9 cops would all be lying. He concluded that he may well have been beaten, but these two charges combined created the third charge of distinguished riot.
After a break, 5 of the lawyers made their closing speeches in favour of their clients and as part of the broader picture that united all the cases. However, as the clock ticked towards 15.00, Bakkellas, the lawyer for Simon, asked that he delay his summing up as there would not be time before the usual end of court business at 15.30. The judges wanted him to go ahead and run over if necessary, and there was a certain amount of shouting. Also, the clerk of the court pointed out that she didn't want it to overrun as she was not going to be paid overtime.
One of the three judges was already booked for another trial Thursday, and Friday was going to be another strike day for the lawyers' union. So the presentation of Bakkellas' summing up was delayed to be heard on Monday morning, 31 January 2011. The judges would then retire to deliberate and hopefully deliver their verdict later that day.
Court ended 15.30 GMT+2
++ Spread the word
Please link to the Campaign's website on your web sites, forums, blogs, facebook profiles etc, tell friends and family and help to spread the word.
Join and share the facebook page at:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Justice-For-Simon-Chapman-and-the-Thessaloniki-4/113450595384764
or join and share the facebook group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=150278698345263
Solidarity for the Thessaloniki 4!
http://www.salonikisolidarity.org.uk/
Films on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheThessaloniki4
Bristol Indymedia's position on IP logging
29-01-2011 11:22
Following the publication of the story about government gateway 303 publishing to UK Indymedia, we feel it is timely to make our position clear on the issues that have arisen.
Note first that the Schnews article contained a number of inaccuracies and assumptions. We believe thatthis article provides a more measured and accurate account of the situation. The revelations about UK indymedia's anti abuse measures have caused some concern amongst activists that IP address information was being collected.
Whilst BIMC operates on a totally different software platform to UK Indymedia, the Oscailt software platform that we use, does have similar anti abuse measures built in. However we have elected to disable those features. Amongst other measures we use the software mod-removeip to do this. We encourage all other IMC collectives to make use of this software. We are confident that our server cannot provide IP information to anyone. Indeed when the Police seized our old server specifically to look for IP data they were not able to find any such data, and confirmed this in writing. However given the way the internet works, we do not control the routers and network hardware between you and our server. We would therefore recommend using TOR when posting sensitive information. We also suggest that all activists read Tech Tools for activists.
Whilst a article about the posting to UK IMC from Gateway 303 was being actively worked on by UK IMC activists, and we believe that it would have been published, it was proving difficult to reach consensus. This is an example of an increasingly frequent situation that has arisen within the UK Network over the past few years: a lack of consensus that has resulted in inaction. In order to give people with different positions the autonomy to continue with their own projects, a decision was made at a UK Network meeting at the end of last year, to the separate the UK Network into two distinct projects. We think this was the right decision and we hope to see good things emerging from both projects.
tadamonan maa massr – In solidarity with Egypt, London last night
29-01-2011 11:12
Folks gathered outside the steps of the British Museum as it was closing last night to show solidarity to those on the streets of Egypt.MET Police Right to Protest leaflet #dayx5
29-01-2011 10:22
For the second time now CO11 Met POlice are handing out leaflets at a demonstration describing the agreed route - only this time it comes with a nice placard graphic saying Right to Protest! Is this a joke?
Whilst it certainly is right to protest at the moment, the police are not there to uphold your rights, but to enforce the political will of the government.
If you really want to know your rights when it comes to protesting check out Green and Black Cross legal advice.
See previous police leaflet distributed on Jan 19th - pdf link to new leaflet on MET police website.
Radio Interference - January edition going out now
28-01-2011 22:22
Click on the link between now (8.45 ish) and 10.30 for the latest live edition of Radio Interference
http://radio.northern-indymedia.org/
Letter from Wandsworth Prison
28-01-2011 19:05
Letter of thanks from Chris Cole, peace activist for support received whilst in jail