UK Indymedia | Police attempt raid of Camp for Climate Action

Police attempt raid of Camp for Climate Action

Around 7.30pm on Tuesday, after a peaceful opening day to the Camp for
Climate Action, approximately thirty police, backed by officers in riot
gear, attempted to raid the camp. They entered the camp without warning,
carrying cans of what appeared to be CS gas.

With their hands in the air, protesters formed a human barrier and blocked
the police, before peacefully escorting them off the site.

This raid was completely unannounced, and no reason has been given as to
why it occurred. It was clearly planned in advance. Riot vans assembled in
the hour leading up, and ambulances were called to be on standby. The
police waited until all the media had left, and then blocked journalists
from returning to cover the stand-off.

Police then prevented people, including local residents wanting to show
support, from coming to the site.

"There is no reason for so many officers to come on site when things are completely calm and peaceful. This was a clear attempt to provoke us. Yet not one of us rose to the bait. This is a peaceful protest. We are not and we will not be the people that the police and the Evening Standard say we are" said Alice Coterley.

Police had previously claimed that they only wanted and needed a patrol of four community police officers, which protesters had allowed on site without incident.

During the attempted raid, an officer, (UC3666) completely unprovoked,
punched one of the people forming the human barrier. The officer was
immediately removed from the site by a senior colleague.

One police officer was heard to say that the raid had been carried out by the Forward Intelligence Team, without prior consultation with senior command.

Police have currently pulled their forces away from the camp, and
everything is now peaceful. Protesters are nevertheless worried that this was an attempt to scare people from coming to the camp.

The calm atmosphere at the camp has now resumed and the programme of
workshops will continue as planned.

Camp for Climate Action

Comments

Hide the following 9 comments

Makes me more determined!

15.08.2007 09:11

This petty intimidation just backfires - makes people even more determined to be there and resist, and cements the (huge) local support for the camp even further! Well done to all the campers for their resistance.....all the old bill are achieving are making themselves look even more like wankers.

Camper

Lack of Press Reports

15.08.2007 13:28

The whole thing does raise the question of whether or not it would be worth allowing a few carefully selected correspondents access to the camp.

Sovereign

Really??

15.08.2007 15:27

Obviously the police would appoint the media who would be on site,so therefore police biased also this would allow the plice intelligence gathering. With all the "mainstream"media on the story it`s sadly plain to me that the outcome of this will end in a bloody battle. There`s no way that the state will allow peaceful protest,the Police will crack down with force and then the media can blame it all on thier usual "hardcore anarchist" headline.Hardly original I know but as we`ve all seen over the years it`s the same old story "originally"written by different named hacks. Thier given thier remit,they comply.The public are fed thier titilation and fear and feel safe that the states bootboys are there to protect them once they pay thier extortion fees,sorry,I mean taxes. Seeing the videos posted I think that indymedia activists are doing a good job. If the camp is attacked,I fear a black bloc reprisial. Solidarity and truth.

Winston Smith

CS gas? Nonsense.

16.08.2007 12:36

The "green canisters of CS gas" were very obviously fire extinguishers, of the type routinely carried by police medics and in their vehicles.

ACAB

this is what democracy looks like

16.08.2007 20:13

the mass police trespass was ordered in response to the camp's unwillingness to allow the FIT on site, i.e. because we kept surrounding them with banners and bodies thus preventing them from getting what they wanted. apparently, our "hindrance and intimidation" towards the FIT constituted an escalation in hostilities and would therefore be dealt with through a show of police strength. at no point would any officer acknowledge that by sending the FIT onto site in the first place they not only exceeded the number of 'community' police from 4 to 7 but totally contradicted the agreement that only local cops would be used.
( to be fair to the 'actual' community police (as opposed to the FIT in disguise), many of them disclosed their disgust at our treatment and their support for our occupation of the proposed runway site which, if built, will destroy their neighbourhood. just a shame that they still persisted in the 'just following orders line'.)
i would be love to know what is happening to officer UC3666 now as it was probably his unprovoked roundhouse punch that unsettled the police operation the most. don't they usually wait until you're alone in a cell or down a back alley before attacking like this, not with a couple of hundred witnesses a few inches away? as Camper's comments show, what a bloody backfire extraordinaire!

as for allowing "a few carefully selected correspondents" greater access, this was the camp's original plan until a few disgruntled, (excluded) journo's caused a furore with the NUJ, complaining that this was not fair and a breach of good journalistic practice and so on and so forth. it was therefore decided to retract the invitations that had been made to 2 or 3 sympathetic journalists in order to be seen to be fair. unfortunately, this means that the police can prevent the media from witnessing incidents such as this one which not only showed the brutality of the police but also the effectiveness of such a peaceful yet firm rebuttal of their power.
i am afraid that the assertion that "obviously the police would appoint the media who would be on site" is absolutely ludicrous and i'm also confused as to why mainstream media equals a bloody outcome? undoubtedly, indymedia activists are doing a fantastic job but the fact that the police prevented the mainstream from filming these events leads me to believe that they do not wish to be filmed in their more nefarious operations. Winston, you say you fear "black bloc" reprisal but surely their purpose is to position themselves in-between attacking cops and other protesters not to go out looking for a ruck. just because a person is dressed in black and masked up does not mean that they are part of a black block, uncontrolled and misdirected violence is just ineffective whereas a focused black block can be highly efficacious.

i did hear reports of a cs canister going off, it is entirely plausible as the cops were carrying the gas, (attached to their belts as standard kit). the forward momentum of the protesters was not affected by this which either means that this report was specious or that the torrential rain dampened its effect. ACAB correctly points out that the green canisters are fire extinguishers but maybe he can also explain just why these were being carried during this operation?

UC3666 in trouble?

20.08.2007 18:29

This sort of thing makes my blood boil. I trust that somebody is making sure that UC3666 is being dealt with. Whomever he punched should be pressing for his immediate prosecution for common assault, if for nothing more serious.

I would think that even if the person won't personally complain, if someone was close enough to take a note of his number, then surely that person can make a complaint against this bullying thug. Did anyone else see this shocking event?

Does anyone know if this is being done; of course there are bound to be lies on top of lies about this, and I think it's important to get to the truth about these things!

Emma Dewhurst

Let's be clear about this...

21.08.2007 11:08

I was right in front of this incident and what I saw was human beings acting aggressively. Yes, there as definately more aggression from the police, but it didn't only come from them. Let's not kid ourselves that it's only the police that are aggressive or violent (violence can be verbal as well as physical). If we really all are to be united in truly peaceful protest then we all need to learn how to remain genuinly calm and peaceful in situations like this where we are confronted with agression. It's not easy, but if we acheive it then we really can be self-congratulatory and focus our critisisms of violence purely on the police. But not until then.

Balance

UC3666 - lies, more lies ............??

22.08.2007 10:11

How very strange this is; I asked my brother's girlfriend, who is a police officer, what station UC3666 came from and, guess what: there is no UC and there are no 4 digit numbers in the Metropolitan Police.

The fact is, there is/was no UC3666.

Perhaps this is why we haven't heard anything about this anywhere else. For some reason that I don't care to think about, somebody appears to be publishing misleading information.

This kind of stuff really gives us all a very bad name, and has completely undermined my confidence in this site.

Emma Dewhurst

TSG have 4 numbers

22.08.2007 10:20

I'd say that his number was actually U3666 and that he is in the Territorial Support Group. He's on video anyway.

Furthermore, Special Constables have 4 digit numbers ending with a 5 and Community Support Officers a 4 digit number ending in a 7.

Your brother's cop sounds like shes either dumb or a liar.

fitwatcher

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