Thousands of people crammed into the London Voluntary Resource Center in Holloway Road for the 22nd annual Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday 22 October. As usual people came together to buy and trade books, films, t-shirts, stickers, gossip, and new directions for the anarchist movement in Britain and beyond. About three dozen meetings and seminars took place throughout the day, on subjects such as precarious labour conditions, no-borders and migration issues, anarchism in film, housing co-operatives, and the proposed National ID card scheme.
The after-bookfair drinks at the Coronet pub down the street, were abruptly terminated just before 7pm. After some people started playing their own music in the pub, the management closed the place on police advise. Leaving the pub, people were confronted by police officers. One person was arrested. Some attempted to de-arrest the person. More police vans arrived, baton-charges down Holloway Road followed. [ Reports & pics 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
Seven people, including an indymedia journalist, were detained or arrested. All of them were released on bail on Sunday evening [report]. A call for evidence including eyewitness statements, video and photo footage went out.
Thousands of people crammed into the London Voluntary Resource Center in Holloway Road for the 22nd annual Anarchist Bookfair on Saturday 22 October. As usual people came together to buy and trade books, films, t-shirts, stickers, gossip, and new directions for the anarchist movement in Britain and beyond. About three dozen meetings and seminars took place throughout the day, on subjects such as precarious labour conditions, no-borders and migration issues, anarchism in film, housing co-operatives, and the proposed National ID card scheme.
As the bookfair ended, many people went for a beer at the Coronet pub down the street. At about 6:20, some people began playing music on a small portable sound system inside the pub. After a while, the music went off, then back on, then off again. This not only annoyed the bar management which immediately said that there would be no more beer until the music was shut down, but it also antagonised many people that had attended the bookfair for being a meaningless and selfish action. Eventually, the police arrived outside. Management went round the pub, informing people that they were closing on police advice. At 7:00, about 8 police officers confronted people as they left the pub, arresting the person who went forward to try to negotiate with them. As the crowd attempted to de-arrest the person, about 10 vans full of riot police, plaincothes and regular uniforms, with some additional cycle cops, arrived at the scene whilst baton-charging down Holloway Rd, beating people as they went.
See reports, photos and comments1 | 2 | 3
During the fray, an Indymedia photographer taking pictures was knocked to the ground, handcuffed, and arrested. He and the other 7 detainees were finally released on bail on Sunday evening after spending more than 24 hours in police cells. A call for eyewitness statements, video and photographic evidence has been made. If you witnessed any of the arrests please email imc-uk-evidence at indymedia.org (replace the "at" with "@")
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