The first thing i saw was a group of people pushing the metal barriers that seperated the stage from the rest of the square to the ground and trying to force their way towards the stage. The reaction from the stewards on the ground was quick, they imediatly formed a human block to prevent them from acctually getting to the stage now that way was open. Some pushing took place, a lot of arguing, screaming and shouting, but it did not get violent. Both sides were acctually trying to argue about it; protestors wanting to get on the stage to talk about the arrests, organizers not letting them in.
The intresting part started when the police arrived. The stewards were apparently upset by this fact, but were not able to leave their spot because of the "raiders". It was clear that they were not going to let it happen, letting whom they reffer to as anarchist storm what they reffer to as their stage, their event. But they were in fact sort of disscusing with the stormers. One of them told an "anarchist" ;"did i storm your event? if you don't like it, organize your own event!"
Back to the police, when they arrived, several people who were not wearing the florecent custom the stewards were wearing, suddenly appeared and started negotiating with the police asking the to leave. Sentances like, "this is provocative, this is not acceptable, you have to leave, this is not agreed on, you are not allowed to be here" were heard being told to the police by those "sivilians".
Two police men took position on a higher platue facing the entrance of the stage, one of them had a camera, i have to sat that it was better than the indymedia cameras i saw, was taking a photos of a vidoe of people, and i'm sure many of us saw him at several spots today. Wich eventualy lead one of the stormers to through awooden stick at him. But they seemed content with just the pictures so ther was no reaction from the police.
Looking at what was happening from outside, i could not tell weather the police left on their own or because the people i saw talking on the phone manage to get them out. But it deffinitly not over when they left.
wittinsing what happened, i can say that the organizers were as firm with the police as they were with the stormers, that is a fact, but is that enough? or is it the way it should be?
It is expected to be firm with the police and refuse their presence at such an even, specially withing the stage, but the question remains, why did they not allow those who had something to say a chance to say it? and we know now that they had something important to tell us. The police ws arresting demonstrators in Trafalgar square and on their way to it.
I believe this was worth telling, and worth reacting against.
Comments
Hide the following 21 comments
Anarchist assholes
18.10.2004 00:48
I wish the stewards had kicked the shit out of them!
Tonga
Free speech for any idiot !!!
18.10.2004 08:23
with the ESF is that it is organized way the commies organize everything with vote rigging and all the other dodgy political gerrymandering, basically corrupt and already being run by powerfull "Interests" just like all the other political organisations Church and i wouldn't be surprised if freemasonary didn't lend a hand somewhere along the line . check the back stage crockery set it's probably HMP .
Groove Ware
Organizers?
18.10.2004 09:13
Susann
How arseholes treat anarchists.
18.10.2004 09:37
Doug
Ha!
18.10.2004 11:22
Tasha
Re refusal to allow announcement of arrests at Trafalgar Square
18.10.2004 11:58
At one of the anti war demos in Edinburgh in March last year several people were arrested in Charlotte Square, after police attacked and arrested a man carrying a FUCK BUSH flag. When we realised what had happened and tried to encourage the crowd to help, the STW organisers tried to get people to go back to the stage and listen to the speakers. When we went to the stage to ask to announce the arrests and state the need for immediate solidarity, the STW leaders (mainly members of the Socialist Workers Party plus some non SWP members of the Scottish Socialist Party) reacted in an extremely hostile manner, refusing to allow us to speak and making statements such as "this is our demo, we are in control".
Eventually, after considerable pressure from many people, they announced the arrests and the proposal for a sitdown protest in Princes Street, the main street. Later, due to the determination of grass-roots demonstrators, this developed into an inspiring march on, and picket of the St Leonards police station where the prisoners were being held. This excellent action, which developed out of the control of the official organisers, was however later defused when the main (SWP) leader called on everyone to disperse from the police station, absurdly claiming that anyone who wanted to stay to support the prisoners was in fact wanting to fight the police.
At another demo an SSP member was arrested, and the only people calling for and taking solidarity action at the police station were participants in
the independent direct action tendency ACTION AGAINST THE WAR, the same SWP leader refusing to do or encourage any solidarity action.
To me this illustrates that the problem is not one of individuals, but a political one, the leaders of hierarchical parties like the SWP want to control and limit peoples actions of rebellion. After the initial inspiring anti war direct actions in Edinburgh, particularly the school students strikes and direct action demos in the streets, the STW organisers refused to call any more midweek demos, attempting to
defusethings into authorised weekend strolls.
Thus, whileremembering that the vast majority of members of these left parties are totally sincere people who genuinely want radical change, and we need to communicate with them, it is vitally important we develop autonomous struggle and organisation. Examples of how this was done in Edinburgh during last years anti war movement, through a series of anti war direct actions including the storming of Edinburgh Castle, can be found at http://www.autonomous.org.uk and look for ACTION AGAINST THE WAR . There is too I think material on the back pages of indymedia Scotland
Mike (Edinburgh)
Anarchist idiots represent nothing
18.10.2004 13:17
These are just a bunch of anarchist freaks who represent nothing and prove every time they are a minority with no support.
John
Fun quiz time
18.10.2004 13:43
Question 1
The ESF is a bit shit, so do you
a) engage with it froma critical distance
b) not turn up and surrender political hegemony
c) set up a really wanky ''alternative'' and ''autonomous'' forum that noone gives a shit about and looks ridculously sectarian, and end up surrendering political hegemony also
Question 2
The STWC demo is a bit shit, with only about three good speakers and despite the fact that the STWC had a lot of early organising success, for which they should be commended, they have failed to take advantage of the mass support the anti-war movement ganied through tactical errors and reliance on that reactionary anti-abortion, money grabbing, power mad, pro-death penalty and universally hated piece of shit george fucking galloway.
so do you
a)engage with it, pointing out the limitations of the current tactics and argue for better organisation.
b) not turn up, surrender political hegemony and make it look like the STWC hierarchy is the only organisation committed to anti-war politics
c) get really hysterically activisty wave poorly made hippy banners around and try and storm the stage shrieking, ''oooh they're all so authoritaarriannnnn'', while everyone else thinks you're a bunch of nutters.
and to the person on this thread who started babbling incoherently about freemasons and similar barmy conspiracy theories, please i invite you to do the movement a favour and just DIE!
Rant over
mynameisfuckingirrelevant
Plain reading.
18.10.2004 14:24
Red Ted.
e-mail: whatlikewashewhen@hotmail.com
Homepage: http://www.freewebs.com/penkie
stop the misinformation
18.10.2004 16:10
Mike (Edinburgh) complains the Edinburgh STW 'organisers refused to call any more midweek demos, attempting to defuse things into authorised weekend strolls.'
I thought the idea behind Indymedia was to provide information not misinformation to the movement. Mike for some reason omits to mention the large mid-week demo in Edinburgh in June 2004'.
It's unfortunate that in future if I want reporting with pictures of what's going on in Edinburgh I will need to depend on the Edinburgh Evening News.
Finally what's to stop Mike organising a mid-week demo or does he prefer to misrepresent those who are.
edinburgh activist
Yeah, right on
18.10.2004 16:30
But seriously, the ESF's credibility has been almost destroyed. I predict the Greek one will be far more inclusive and horizontally organised, simply because the fuckers here almost wrecked it. Go out and vote for Tony Blair instead.
Krop
reply to STOP THE MISINFORMATION
19.10.2004 17:37
1. He/she says the edinburgh stw coalition did organise a midweek demo in june 2004
My point was that they did NOT organise a midweek demo in edinburgh in the vital second and third weeks after the war started, in March and early april 2003.
The 17, 19 and 20 march all saw vibrant direct action demos in edinburgh involving striking school students and others. There was then a massive demo on sat 22 march. But instead of trying to maintain and increase the momentum of direct action through mid week day time demos that could act as a focus for school students strikes and disruption of business as usual, for the next 2 weeks the stw leaders called authorised saturday demos.
2. Edin activist says - why didnt you organise your own demos?
The fact is - we did. Independent anti authoritarian activists organised direct action demos on 17 March (the storming of edinburgh castle), 27 March (taking over princes st and beseiging army recruitment office) and 3 april (shutting down petrol station at canonmills), plus at least one other after the official war had ended. Full details at http://www.autonomous.org.uk and click on ACTION AGAINST WAR in left hand column, bottom.
mike (edinburgh)
an account of arrest at Trafalgar square
19.10.2004 18:30
see also: http://uk.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/299362.html
an eyewitness
anarchists grow up!
19.10.2004 20:48
hashishin
There was no theft of anything from anyone
19.10.2004 23:30
The crowd that had entered the meeting helped look for the missing items. The items were momentarily lost and I have been told by people from the official ESF side that they were in fact found and returned to their owner.
We are all dealing with rumours and misinformation: can ALL WITNESSES speak the truth and account for - what seem to me - these gross misrepresentations. If the person involved did indeed get his property back, then this is one entire so-called problem resolved.
Anyone who thinks anarchists, anti-authoritarians and anti-fascist campaigners would rob someone inside a gathering of the the global resistance movement is a greater fool than I dared imagine. The people who took the stage at Ally Pally were from different types of anarchist, no borders and similar groups from all across europe and our world, and are the very same people who took part in the No Borders action at Waterloo and Calais, who confronted the BNP in Dagenham last week (with the result of arrested comrades), the same people who have consistently refused to collaborate with the pigs or the state in ANY way.
Now what does Lee Jasper do for a living, apart from collaborate with the racist british police?
antohis
Anti-fascist event attacked at ESF
20.10.2004 10:37
Firstly, it is appalling that a group of 200 or so chose to disrupt the only plenary session at ESF on stopping fascism and the far right in Europe. Across Europe fascist and far right parties have been polling the highest votes for decades and people who should be organising to oppose fascism chose to disrupt an open forum on how we should do just that. Before their 'intervention' the attendance was at full capacity reflecting the concern ordinary people have at the resurgence of fascism and their desire to discuss how to combat it. They drove many away and the debate was impoverished by that.
Secondly, it is outrageous for people to justify physical asssault on Weyman Bennett and the theft of his mobile and wallet. Weyman is one of the joint secretaries of Unite Against Fascism and a Black activist of many years standing who has worked tirelessly to build a movement to challenge the BNP.
Whatever the intentions of the 'invaders' it is difficult to distinguish this sort of disgraceful behaviour from the disruption of political meetings by the National Front in the 1970s and 1980s, Hitler's cohorts smashing up labour movement meetings in the 1920s and 1930s, or those who put in the windows of those involved in refugee relief in the late 1930s. It is completely contrary to the principles of human solidarity and the ESF.
Paul Mackney
General Secretary
NATFHE
27 Britannia Street
London WC1X 9JP
Paul Mackney
e-mail: pmackney@natfhe.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.natfhe.org.uk
TONGA
21.10.2004 17:21
Why does this split manifest itself in Britain and not other parts of Europe?
Tonga, unfortunately STWC (SWP) stewards couldn’t kick the shit out of Anarchists. SWP (STWC) couldn’t fight their way out of a paper bag apparently. (see Storming of the Palace comments)
Calling the Police TWICE to deal with the result of this exclusion proves this theory no?
Dave
Homepage: http://www.socialistwanker.com
...They weren't anarchist anyway
26.10.2004 12:15
Secondly, the 3 people that were arrested at Kings Cross (two Italians and one Greek) were arrested for the contestation of the social forum planery the night before. During that conference, they were prevented from speaking, and, being activists dicided to do so anyway. In any case, it was the ESF that requested their arrests and that later prevented their companions from speaking from the stage about it.
The situation has little to do with "anarchist" or comunists or whatever, and much more to do with the hijacking of the social forum by powerful political interests.
- from an italian companion
john
Homepage: http://www.globalproject.info
a few points
26.10.2004 13:07
secondly in all the other social forums, anarchists and autonomists have organised seperately so cut the lies.
noel
What??????????????????????
29.10.2004 14:30
were from different types of anarchist,
no borders and similar groups
from all across europe and our world."
I wonder where the majority of people in the room who wanted to see the meeting were from?
This place used to be good
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