getting shirty
homemade
whitehall
anons
shirt
shirt gallery
don't keep calm
sit-in
nuff cops
parl sq scuffles
aftermath
-------
the bedroom tax protests across the uk seem to have been organised by various groups and often on a grass-roots level. the london one was associated with a facebook 'get shirty' campaign to send david cameron the 'shirt off your back', was also supported by the 'sunday people' (published by the mirror group), 'left labour', and of course the somewhat discredited at the moment SWP. i heard reports that by saturday morning, some facebook pages had been mysteriously removed.
the protest attracted a very wide range of people, helped perhaps by coverage and a call to arms by polly toynbee in the guardian (
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/15/bedroom-tax-march-heartless-reform), and the public pronouncements of frank field ( http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brick-up-your-doors-knock-down-the-walls-labour-mp-frank-field-makes-dramatic-call-as-bedroom-tax-hits-8552262.html), the labour MP appointed as a 'poverty tsar' by cameron. the largest protests were in scotland, with several thousand reported in glasgow, while in london several hundred gathered in trafalgar square from 1pm (with perhaps up to 1000 taking part during the afternoon). many people carried their own slogans, either on shirts (which they were hoping to throw over the gates at downing street as part of the 'get shirty' campaign), or on banners, but the 'sunday people' supplied ready made placards (prominently logo-ed), as of course did the SWP.
there was also quite a large contingent of 'anonymous' protestors, with their vendetta masks and green flags.
right from the start, policing seemed excessive and a little confrontational, while the police liaison officers (PLOs) crawled through the crowd collecting information and intelligence by engaging conversation with their apparently friendly banter.
meanwhile constables 'sweetman' and 'leahy' were less friendly liaising with organisers and shouting at them to get the march moving by 1.45 with the added threat "or not at all".
there was nothing friendly either, about the deployment of a large number of TSG officers right from the start of the protest, and as the march set off, the crowd was tightly enclosed by police, liaison constable leahy barked at the front of the procession telling them to keep moving, and side streets were blocked off by more TSG, while several vans of police followed at the back of the crowd.
nearing downing street it became clear there was no chance of nearing the gates to perform the symbolic "shirts of our backs" element that was planned, because police had built squared box-fencing lined with more police, and event tape signified that the march should keep to the southbound carriage well away from the gates.
a few 'anons' ducked under the tape and moved towards the middle of the road where they quickly sat down as a dozens of riot police ran towards them. this action succeeded in taking that space at least, and there were chants of solidarity from the mixed crowd making any police attempt to clear the road unjustifiable and overly aggressive, so rather than being moved to the pavement, the protest took over half of whitehall and speeches and chants began from a wide range of people on an open mic megaphone.
with the crowd static, the PLOs continued their intelligence work. a regular tactic was to ask whether people were happy with the way the police were 'facilitating' the protest, then gauging the response and eliciting further conversation about how they'd like to see change occur. while suggesting that the public was quite angry about cuts, bankers etc, the conversation is designed to elicit admissions about the level of action individuals might endorse or take part in, with the cops suggesting that the ballot box is of course the best way, a comment designed to uncover alternative viewpoints quickly.
i've heard these techniques used at several protests, and it is a pattern i pointed out strongly in my report on the nick clegg picnic protest a year ago (
http://london.indymedia.org/articles/12303). admissions by PLOs at the recent critical mass trial provide evidence that the PLO's main job is not so much 'liaison' as intelligence ( http://netpol.org/2013/03/13/police-liaison-officers-intelligence-gathering-self-policing-and-the-dangers-of-talking-to-the-police/). there have been calls from groups like 'fitwatch' for protestors to begin making PLOs overtly unwelcome within protests ( http://www.fitwatch.org.uk/tag/police-liaison-officers/) - they recommend that no-one speaks with these people, and where possible they are verbally or even physically prevented from entering crowds and engaging. it is certainly important that people are aware of the real role of these police officers. as the afternoon progressed, with the police preventing any symbolic delivery of shirts to downing street, people used the fence opposite, and attached the shirts there instead for photo opportunities.
at around 3pm the PLOs began to ask people if they'd be nice and move to the pavement. the crowd took a vote and agreed they didn't want to. the PLOs became less friendly and the TSG started pushing people despite the peaceful vote - the PLOs request had indeed quickly escalated to an order.
a few people remained sitting, but the police succeeded in shoving most to the kerb, and after a while the half dozen or so 'sitters' got up and joined them.
the crowd had also thinned out quite a lot with maybe only 200 remaining. suddenly about 3.30 and a little after the whitehall carriageway had been reopened, a group of 'anons' broke away and led maybe a hundred people down towards parliament, taking over the road on the way.
at parliament square there were already several vanloads of TSG in wait, and an attempt to sit in the road was met by a quick and very physical response as they were picked up and dragged or flung to the pavement. soon there was a roughly 1:1 ration of police/protestors, and the tightly controlled crowd dispersed over the next half hour, with a few dozen 'anons' making their way up to trafalgar square, where they congregated harmlessly at the foot of nelson's column, monitored by TEN van loads of TSG.
so much for austerity and police cuts! this protest was characterised by truly absurd levels of policing.
the 'national housing federation' (NHR) states that the new bedroom tax will harm the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. under the scheme, people in social housing with a room designated as a 'spare bedroom' will face 14% benefit cuts, while anyone with two 'unoccupied rooms' will lose a quarter of their benefits.
while presented as a sensible and popular measure, research by the NHR shows there are nowhere enough smaller properties available and so nearly a hundred thousand families face the benefit cuts or a move into the private sector that would end up costing the government more (at least £143m according to their figures).
other cuts, and a new system that compels councils to cut 10% from their council tax benefit budgets, have led the homeless charity 'crisis' to predict a huge increase in homelessness (on top of a rise of 20% since the current government took office).
frank field, appointed as a poverty advisor in 2010, has condemned the 'bedroom tax' as "a form of social engineering that would have made joseph stalin proud".
for more info on the wave of cuts and tax concessions that will leave disabled people £4,700 worse off while top earners gain £107,000, i would recommend the well-researched piece at 'scriptonite daily'. (
http://scriptonitedaily.wordpress.com/2013/03/29/our-last-good-friday-easter-monday-beginning-of-the-end-for-uk-poor/)
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