quick early report on foreign office blockade this morning

clowns, samba and lebanese dancers took part in a blockade of the foreign office in king charles street this morning. their theme was 'bringing the war home" and they were hoping to disrupt the workings of the war machine for a while

around 100 activists turned up with an impressively large banner at 8am this morning - yes anarchists can get up early!!.

despite a huge police presence, they managed to enter king charles street, and the clowns staged an excellent die-in before being arrested for 'suspected criminal damage' (thought to be the washable fake blood they spilt on the pavement). some fake blood was also spattered across one of the the doorways of the foreign office. another person was arrested 'for sitting on the pavement'.

currently (9.45am) around forty protesters are penned in by large numbers of cops including tsg (tactical support group / thugs), and it is thought they are all likely to be arrested for 'participating in an unauthorised demonstration in the designated zone' (socpa) and police are trying to find enough cell space.

itn news were there so there should be some media coverage at least on local london news at lunchtime. the demonstrators were entirely peaceful throughout (doh - it's an anti-war demo - geddit!). although police were heard to claim they were holding people because of a risk of 'serious public disorder').

rikki
e-mail: rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com

Additions

Only five arrests.

21.08.2006 13:50

It wasn't a disaster at all. Only five people were arrested, all thought to be on suspicion of criminal damage. Generally a very sucessful action.

Sam

Stop the War Coalition statement

21.08.2006 13:54

The comment previously posted on this page purporting to be from a Stop the War Coalition spokesman was not genuine. Stop the War Coalition completely disclaims the opinions expressed therein. Genuine Stop the War Coalition statements will only ever appear on our website -

http://www.stopwar.org.uk - or on our email lists.

Readers might be interested in our press release of Thursday 10th August commending activists in Derry for their occupation of the local base of American arms manufacturer Raytheon.

http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/stwc-press/2006-08/msg00009.html

Stop the War Coalition
mail e-mail: office@stopwar.org.uk
Homepage: http://www.stopwar.org.uk

Blockade in the Guardian

21.08.2006 19:07

Just in case you missed this:

"Five arrested in 'blockade' of Foreign Office"

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1855050,00.html?gusrc=ticker-103704

Marc
Homepage: http://www.protestphoto.co.uk

Yes it was blockaded

21.08.2006 21:19

I'm not sure why a fuller article about the event hasn't appeared on the newswire, or where all the film/ photos that people were using have got to... but anyway!

Yes, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was blockaded for about forty-five minutes between 8.45 to 9.30. We blockaded the main gate forcing civil servants to walk round to the back, passing the banner and gauntlet of clowns. From 8.00 to 8.45 the blockade was at the head of King Charles St. below the arch.

The comments so far have been slightly negative in tone. Personally, and speaking as someone who has been on a number of awesome actions, this was a very self-emporering blockade, well-executed, with good communication amongst blockaders and all round fun and effective.

We made a joke of their SOCPA legislation, and the cops looked like class clowns throwing a loose pen around people trying to leave for them to just decide to leave five minutes later.

All round an amazing action. As one friend said, "The best thing I've done on a Monday morning for a very long time!"

all those arrested now out

21.08.2006 21:34

The last of the five arrestees (four Clown Army cadre and one random civilian) was released at 8pm, some ten and a half hours after arrest. All five have been bailed to return (but not charged, as yet) to West End Central police station in October.

Two of them were offered food containing ingredients they are allergic to, despite telling the custody officers of this when asked if they had any specific dietary requirements - the officers in question seemingly unacquainted with the Met's new found focus on Health & Safety.

ACAB

Comments

Hide the following 13 comments

I told you it would be a disaster with most people arrested!

21.08.2006 09:47

I told you it would be a disaster! The meet up time should have been much later like 11:30 am and it should have been advertised at least three weeks in advance. The anti-war movement needs fighters not martyrs!

Come to the mass anti-war picket of the Labour party conference in Manchester on Saturday the 23rd of December. Lets make this the biggest ever demo and direct action day Manchester has ever seen. Small groups can organise their own direct actions for the day.

http://www.stopwar.org.uk

Spokesman for the stop the war coalition

well done.

21.08.2006 09:53

Thanks to everyone who put their neck on the line and thanks Nikki, for the quick update.
Hopefully there will be more of an result besides lots of arrested friends.

mediA TOADS

You can get up early now get yourselves a proper job......

21.08.2006 09:58

.....but seriously, well done. Keep us informed of the arrestees and the charges. Is there any updates of where people have been taken?

Love and Rage
Matron X

Louise Keane

Stop the War Fighters?

21.08.2006 10:05

You must be deluded yourselves to think that stop the war coalition are "fighters"!! What a fucking joke. If you are such fighters then why do your stewards gang up on anyone which actually whats to fight back?

Manchester

21.08.2006 11:03

" Lets make this the biggest ever demo and direct action day Manchester has ever seen."

I dunno, its got the Peterloo Massacre to contend with................. you want a repeat of that?

And also, why be so prescriptive about today's demo? It was organised by a bunch of anarchists, what do you expect? You don't need three weeks to organise an event - you turn up with a bunch of mates and make a nuisance of yourselves. So what if clowns get arrested? They know the consequences of their actions and know the risks - not everyone wants to be organised and led and not everyone agrees to use the same methods of protest.

Matron of Mischief

re: I told you so...

21.08.2006 11:04

Always good to have a sense of solidarity, eh, and slag people off before and after they organise something, but say 'come to our thing, 'cos we do it better'! For fuck's sake.

Anyway, hope your picket goes well. Note it is an anti-war picket (mass 'cos that's the style/philosophy of the SWP, early in the morning and not advertised cos that's our style), and don't try to co-opt direct action (the concept and the energy) as you have been known to do before.

Nice one early birds in London anyway.

bird

maybe

21.08.2006 12:20

Maybe this action would have been a success if you had sold some papers and just marched to Hyde park. how do the STWC define direct action. some examples would be helpful from the professional protesters the STWC/SWP.

NotNow!

Three week's notice

21.08.2006 12:43

Also on the topic of the three weeks notice, the stop the war coalition website boasts that the Lebanon protest was organised : "with only one week's notice".

Anyway, let's have more fun and less carping.

Matron of Mischeif

did the stop the war coalition inform and work with the cops?

21.08.2006 13:06

seems to me that this stop the war spokesman wanted this demonstration to fail. I wander why there were so many cops and it seems to me that the cops were anticipating a large amount of arrests. did you call the cops and help them, stop the war coalition? is this about getting the competition arrested so that lindsay german and her SWP cronies can dominate the agenda as usual?

the SWP are such wankers in co-operating with the cops. no wonder their demos are weak, small and don't go anywhere. I bet the cops are really happy that they have such a compliant SWP/ stop the war coalition that are too scared to mount a protest outside the foriegn office.

I do know this. the muslim leaders think the SWP are a waste of space that do not understand the muslim religion or their position. Worse, the SWP and Lindsey German want to force all muslims to join their pathetic little commie committees with her in charge of the agenda.

ever wandered why none of the gitmo prisoners have ever appeared at a stop the war meeting or rally? remember this mr spokesperson?

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/2004/10/299064.html

i remember during the ESF when i succeeded in getting one of the british gitmo prisoners to speak at an indymedia human rights seminar (which the SWP did everything to try and stop) that they tried to steal him on the day so they could make huge SWP propaganda during the ESF. whilst indymedia was very careful and sensitive to the needs of our Guantanamo guest, the SWP wanted to take a man who had spent over two years in solitary confinement, stick him on the stage and then claim the credit for getting him released!

nessuno

We didn't get arrested Mr. STWC!

21.08.2006 13:35

Being one of those 45 people in the pen, I'm at work and free! In fact we all were apart from the arrests that were in the main article (three I think). The police let everyone from the pen go. So I dunno where you got your info from that there were mass arrests. We caused some serious disruption to vehicles trying to get in one gate, with the civil servants obviously being told to dress down and looked very uneasy going to work today. There were also some fantastic dance performances from a young Palestinian group on Whitehall.

Mr STWC, you will see for yourself the success it was when the pics and vids and the whole report is posted on Indymedia later.

Nicos

in partial defence of 'i told ou so'

21.08.2006 14:43

It's all very well to be concerned about the SWP/STWC and their apparent attempts to sabotage efforts to take direct action against the war machine, but I'd like to partiall defend 'I told you so's position. It appears this action tried to be a hybrid action combining mass participation with affinit group style blockades. However, it also appears to have ignored a long history of experience and lessons that are available to build from.

It is true that an 8am start is bad for mass participation in this context, and the low munbers prove it. Being able to mobilise less than a hundred, despite wide publicity including an article in the guardian, is hardly cause for celebration. I've been on covert direct action that involved similar numbers from all round the countr (and even earlier in the morning).

Making an event public is all very well but it's important to ask why. It's normally done to involve more people, often with the view that more people are needed. However, with blockades, it's more usually the case that you need only small numbers of people, a few people up for arrest and a few to support them. Blockades become difficult with loads of police around and work best with the element of suprise.

We all know how police in London operate, and being stuck in a pen is not exactly empowering. If the motive for public action is to get more people involved and empower them, it can be done via word of mouth rather than publicised direct action. Again, I've been involved in quite a few covert actions where a large percentage of the participants had been enroled from other events and given training and legal briefings - surely beter than hoping random members of the public will turn up and but themselves on the line.

Non publicised actions can be better planned. You don't count on enough people turning up and doing the right thing by chance. You know exactly who is going and what roles everyone will have. You know you have a period of time before the cops or security react and you can plan accordingly.

So, 'I told you so' thinks a later action would have been more successful and involved more people... well I think that's crap. The aim was clearly to blockade not hold a demo and therefore acting later with more people would have done nothing to improve the chances of success. On the other hand, just twenty people and a well considered plan of action would have had a vastly greater chance of success.

Well done to all concerned. Hope your experiences lead you to even better actions.

Was the FCO blockaded at all?

21.08.2006 18:56

Er! Apart from the banner and clowns..did the FCO get blockaded at all?

Zazo

Re: in partial defence of 'i told ou so'

21.08.2006 21:19

Contrary to your claims this action was built on vast experience of previous actions, and you appear considerably out-of-date on how police in London operate, or perhaps just unaware of the unpredictablity of doing actions within the SOCPA zone.

Contrary to the confused information in the OP there was no pen in the familiar sense - the police simplty blocked the entire street at both ends for the final fifteen minutes of a two hour demonstration.

ACAB