Clown Army at Charing Cross

Labofii | 17.10.2004 19:42 | European Social Forum | London

labofii

The clandestine insurgent rebel clown army and the lab of ii went to Charing Cross police station to show their solidarity this evening.

Labofii
Homepage: http://www.labofii.net

Comments

Hide the following 15 comments

you got everyone chucked out of the station lobby and others assaulted by cops. outside is fine for such a solidarity demo but going into charring cross station like that aint such a smart move as the police there have quite a history of assaulting people in the station lobby.

smart move?

don't blame them

18.10.2004 00:01

Look "smart move", everyone shows solidarity as they can. I do not think that the clown army can be blamed for the police assaulting people and chucking them out. Neither can they be blamed for people beging detailed (further or in the first place), since the police are just arbitrary like that.

So just don't fall for their stick and carrot approach to managing our reaction. It is quite recognised that solidarity actions are a 'good' thing, and I think this one was quite appropriate. maybe we should be asking instead why there were so many arrests, many far away from any demonstrations or actions - on a day that nothing was even broken.

charing x

18.10.2004 01:44

"got others assualted by cops?" Eh? Are you a cop "Smart Move?" . Your comment seems similar to either a troll / undercover windup merchant.

Kill the FIT

Cool Clowns

18.10.2004 12:16

When the clowns arrived the noise demo quickly went up a gear. Many of them started banging on the gates of the police station which upset the plod who came out and shoved everyone away. They then threatened to arrest everyone for obstruction so some clowns walked up and down the pavement making clear the the pavement wasn't obstructed.

The problem with Charing X station is that its hard from some cells to hear outside so going inside seemed like a good idea. When asked about waiting inside one cop said there's no way where letting you in there.

However the clowns quickly fell into line and marched down the the entrance and all got in for a short while before being ejected.

It all seemed a worthwhile thing to do - solidarity is important. And if more folk took part in this kind of action the cops might eventually realise the hassle of nicking folk for minor offensives is not worth there while.

Bozo

Add

18.10.2004 12:18

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The article was supposed to come up with a video...
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Labofii

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18.10.2004 12:42

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The article was supposed to come up with a video...
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Labofii

Not a troll

18.10.2004 12:50

Why is it that when anyone offers criticism of an action, someone jumps in with- 'you must be a troll/cop'.

Why not accept that there is valid debate to be had on all actions and perhaps we can learn to be more effective.

joe jones

video add

18.10.2004 13:42

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the article was supposed to come up with a video...
hopefully it will work now...

Lab

bvcx

18.10.2004 18:13

testing

bvcx

clowning around

18.10.2004 18:21

i am proud to be a member of the circa (rebel clown army). i think we have done some really good stuff in the four days out we've had so far. i have to say though i think we fucked up bigtime last night. that doesn't make us complete shit, or no good for anything, it means we fucked up last night. we were doing ok round back of the pigshop making noise and keeping our spirits up in the cold, trying to act in solidarity with our friends inside. in fact we were doing better than ok, we were good! but then (in my opinion) we got a bit carried away, forgot to think before we acted, and stormed into the station. that was not only silly, it messed things up for people who were trying to get information out of the pigs about our friends. i apologised to them last night and i still feel crap about that, it was the first thought in my head this morning and will probably still be making me cringe for some time to come.
its a learning thing tho, and in future we will have learnt lessons from this and not fuck up so bad again. please don't use it as an excuse to diss us completely without having seen what we are capable of, when we think first.
sometimes acting silly goes to a clowns head. last night it stopped being an act, we really were very silly and i was so angry with myself afterwards nothing anyone else wants to throw my way will be as harsh as my own inner voice. sorry again to all whose evening was made even harder by our actions.
we all live and learn, we all fuck up, we are all of value to this movement.
x

a clown

Yey! Clowns

18.10.2004 21:52

Clown action in station, probably not a top move. Know the feeling the morning after! Good to learn.

Clown action in general brilliant.

Alternative ideas, subverting action, AMAZING. We really need them for the G8. I loved the pro-Capitalist Demo thing too. Lets spin the media and the police on their heads till they don't know where they are going!

observer

no blame

19.10.2004 01:38

speaking as one of the samba band that arrived after the storming of the nick, I don't think it's fair to criticise the clandestine action: we decided not to play when we arrived, simply because that was the specific request of the relatives of those inside - it was them that we arrived in solidarity with so going against their wishes would have been futile. There were still those in our group that wanted to make some noise but the general feeling was that we weren't wanted there: however this was after the clowns had been chucked out of the station and been pathetically blamed for the police's continued lack of clarity on who had been charged. I don't feel at all that what they did was stupid or brazen - it was their way of showing support and I applaud them.

a pink sambista

Twisted

19.10.2004 11:11

Blaming the clowns for the Pigs behaviour and reaction is completely twisted IMO.

the pigs CAN differentiate between the clowns and other people standing in the station and so if they use the clowns as an excuse to chuck everyone else then ... they are just being pigs.

it was no big deal anyway. just a bunch of strangely dressed folk going in and out of the station in a matter of minutes.

DONT BLAME THE CLOWNS OR OTHERS FOR WHAT THE PIGS DO!!!!!

they are responsible for their actions

Thank you, Circa!

20.10.2004 19:01

Thanks for your solidarity. It means a lot to me. Thank you!

arrested on sunday

clownz

22.10.2004 11:13

i think the sit-in happened quite spontaniously, in corrospondence with the spontanity clowns r reputaded 4. i don't know if it turned out 2b constructive or that the p-ple inside benifited of it. i think by marching off directly after, 4 a cool down & an evaluation of what'z next, the clownarmy acted quite appropriately & professionally. there was a sense of urgence due 2 the conviction of innocent p-ple, the crazy things around the indymediaservers & a few days of intimidation & repression (camera's outside autonomous zones, uptight police, etc.) & i think we all did quite great in not letting ourselves being provoked into real counterviolence. let'z b proud of that, not feel guilty, just learn of it and look ahead. thanx beyonderz, labberz, clownz, everybody, it's been great inspiration!

seigneur sinistro