The powers that be have decided that they don’t like young people gathering around the corn exchange. They are passing a dispersal order to get rid of them. This means that groups of 2 or more young people will be moved on because of who they are rather than what they are doing. If they fail to disperse immediately, or return to anywhere in the city centre within the next 24 hours, then they will be arrested. This is an inappropriate way of tackling the issue at hand. Young people have nowhere to hang around, just kicking them out of every place they meet will not solve the problem.
Today (Saturday the 17th ) a couple of police officers were acting on complaints from the owners of the corn exchange. They made use of the Obstruction of Public Highway (section 137 Highways Act 1980) to try and move on groups of people. One cop informed us that they didn’t really need this dispersal order because they could move people on with section 137. However they soon wandered off without actually managing to move anyone. Make of that what you will…
When we talked to the group it became apparent that they were not aware of the dispersal order, despite it affecting all of them directly, and the attendant cops obviously didn’t want to tell them about it. The police apparently did an investigation into what was happening around there and couldn’t find anything to pin on them… presumably this is why they haven’t ASBO’d them all already, but if this dispersal order goes through it will effectively criminalise a group of people just because local businesses don’t want them around. The only reason this is happening is because recent ‘developers’ in the area have more power than a group of kids.
Listening to stories from the corn exchange crowd today it seems like they have been the target of a lot of police bullying; being picked up for things like dropping cigarette butts, swearing and play-fighting. The corn exchange has been associated with the ‘alternative’ crowd for at least ten years now, they congregate there to meet with like-minded people, not to cause trouble, and there is definitely a feeling of ‘safety in numbers’. When you dress differently you are subjected to verbal and physical abuse from narrow-minded members of the public. These young people may not be angels, but they’re not criminals either. Basic human entitlements such as the right to freely assemble should not be sacrificed for the sake of yuppie development opportunities. We are currently organising to oppose these impending draconian measures- check indymedia for details of the forthcoming meeting regarding this.
Peace, Love and Empathy – da kidz
Today (Saturday the 17th ) a couple of police officers were acting on complaints from the owners of the corn exchange. They made use of the Obstruction of Public Highway (section 137 Highways Act 1980) to try and move on groups of people. One cop informed us that they didn’t really need this dispersal order because they could move people on with section 137. However they soon wandered off without actually managing to move anyone. Make of that what you will…
When we talked to the group it became apparent that they were not aware of the dispersal order, despite it affecting all of them directly, and the attendant cops obviously didn’t want to tell them about it. The police apparently did an investigation into what was happening around there and couldn’t find anything to pin on them… presumably this is why they haven’t ASBO’d them all already, but if this dispersal order goes through it will effectively criminalise a group of people just because local businesses don’t want them around. The only reason this is happening is because recent ‘developers’ in the area have more power than a group of kids.
Listening to stories from the corn exchange crowd today it seems like they have been the target of a lot of police bullying; being picked up for things like dropping cigarette butts, swearing and play-fighting. The corn exchange has been associated with the ‘alternative’ crowd for at least ten years now, they congregate there to meet with like-minded people, not to cause trouble, and there is definitely a feeling of ‘safety in numbers’. When you dress differently you are subjected to verbal and physical abuse from narrow-minded members of the public. These young people may not be angels, but they’re not criminals either. Basic human entitlements such as the right to freely assemble should not be sacrificed for the sake of yuppie development opportunities. We are currently organising to oppose these impending draconian measures- check indymedia for details of the forthcoming meeting regarding this.
Peace, Love and Empathy – da kidz
Comments
Hide the following 5 comments
thats silly!
20.12.2005 21:45
whats the point of aresting them all when they arent doing harm to no-one!
i hang around the corn ex and i swear if anyone tells me to move- ill tell em where to go!1
its a totally stupid idea that wont work cuz people are gunna fight against it!
Joanne
2's company, 3's a crime
21.01.2006 15:00
Katie Evans
e-mail:
theres_a_place@hotmail.com
No-one's fight but yours
22.01.2006 02:41
What really pissed me off was the blatant hijacking of the spontaneous resistance by ...surely not!..The Trots. I was told of a meeting organised with the aim of consensus decision making and non-hierarchy, where all the seats had been arranged in a circle, only for reps from the authoritarian left to stand in the middle of it and TELL THE KIDS WHAT TO DO.
I have no doubt that many of the young people involved are relatively politically naive, and appreciate someone 'giving them a sense of direction'. They may not have an accurate handle on the nature of power structure and coercion, i certainly fucking didn't when I was 16 or 17, at least not clearly. But allegedly the trots colluded with the cops - yep, the same people invoking and enforcing this shit - to undermine what the kids wanted to do, which was blockade vicar lane. Faced with slightly older and apparently more experienced people advising them on this, the majority complied, effectively minimising the potential impact of the action. What resulted was a tokenistic protest with no real effect on the city centre - why would the powers that be respond to that, if there's no real disruption or threat? They won't, simple as.
all i really want to say is - GO KIDS GO!
Don't let anyone tell you how to fight your fight. Including me if this doesn't make sense to you.
Love and Solidarity
x
Nic
e-mail:
blackstar7_5@yahoo.co.uk
unfortunately money talks.
27.01.2006 13:25
Large congregations outside a major shopping centre cause obstruction, inconvenience to shoppers, loss of trade and ultimately loss of revenue.
If you were all spending money in the corn exchange then they would doubtless welcome you with open arms.
steve
e-mail:
steven.wilmers@talk21.com
The above poster is right.
30.03.2006 20:07
Secondly let me just back up what the poster above said. Its not about youth, its not about how people look (most of us in there are quite young), its not even neccessarily about how individuals behave, its about the slow death of the Cornexchange. The Cornx has always been one of the few places that independent traders can afford to operate in Leeds city centre, and to be fair its diversity is often what makes it such a struggle as most of the time you are only appealing to 'some' of the people that come through the door - most of the time its a struggle.
The Centre was originaly refurbished by Leeds City council and as such rents were pretty reasonable, the last 15 years has seen a slow succession of owners hiking the rents more and more and have made it even harder for us to survive, this year so far I believe 4 tenants have gone bust and at least three others are hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Now if you take that situation and plonk any mass group outside the front door that reduce the number of people coming into the centre - its just going to get worse. Imagine if the salvation army adopted the front of the Cornx as a weekend meeting place with a brass band and bible readings, would some of the youth still feel comfortable there or would you just say bugger that, if they went what do you think would happen to places like Grin, I 'll tell you what - they'd scream at the top of their lungs to the council for someone to help them.
Do the youth have rights and freedoms - too bloody right they do, is it fair that their rights (or any other groups rights) should impinge on other people lives to the point of them losing jobs and the means to support their families- no I don't think it is, to many of the people involved in this its just a game, to others its politics, to some of us its whether we'll be there next year.
Andy