In a scene that could have come from George Orwell’s classic book 1984, hundreds of police officers flooded the streets of Oxford on 22nd July. Side Streets were lined with police vans, packed with police officers. Dozens of officers on bikes patrolled the streets, whilst dozens more stood on every street corner. Wherever you looked, yellow tunic officers were in abundance. A dozen police horses were forced to march through the searing heat of Oxford City centre as Thames Valley Police prowled the streets of this once picturesque city.
What were the police there for? Had they been informed that Al Qaeda were expecting to cause carnage amongst the tourists and shoppers that had turned out in their thousands on this oppressively humid summer's day? Or had they had some intelligence information that had alerted them to a possible terror attack of another kind?
The answer to these questions is NO: the hundreds of police officers that were on the streets of Oxford on Saturday weren’t there to protect the public. They weren’t there to foil an attack by a terrorist group. The simple truth of the matter is: they were there to prevent people from leafleting in the city of Oxford - welcome to Blair’s Britain. Welcome to Britain in the 21st century.
Tourists and shoppers looked on aghast as police officers forced their way through streets packed with shoppers. It was impossible for police officers to distinguish animal rights campaigners who were there to tell the truth, from those that were in Oxford to either sightsee or shop. No one was immune from the police operation, as they stopped both shopper and campaigner alike.
In the region of 200 animal rights campaigners responded to the call by SPEAK to attend Oxford on the 22nd July in order to remember the sad life of George. George lived a miserable life. A macaque monkey kidnapped from his jungle homeland, he suffered horrors that few people could ever imagine. The Oxford University professor who tortured him saw him as nothing more than a tool. The same professor that tortured George had previously been investigated for cruelty to a monkey he was experimenting on.
People came from all corners of England to remember George; to remember one individual monkey who symbolises just what the animal rights message is all about and illustrates more than anything else just what we are fighting for. We can’t bring George back, nor any of the other poor non human animals that have died such violent deaths at the hands of the vivisectors. What we can do is tell the truth. And therein lies the problem: Oxford University don’t want the public to know the truth. The Government have too much to lose if the public are made aware of the horrors being perpetrated against sentient creatures inside vivisection laboratories and the vast amounts of money being made by companies involved in this form of animal abuse. The police operation on Saturday had only one objective and that was to prevent us from telling the truth.
What the Police operation clearly illustrated is that Oxford University, the Government and the vivisection industry are terrified of the truth being told. The massive police presence highlights just how desperate they are to muzzle us. SPEAK has insisted from the start of the campaign that the vivisectors and their friends in authority will try every dirty trick in the book to try and discredit our compassionate message. This fact is clearly seen in the injunctions that have been issued against SPEAK. The injunctions have absolutely nothing to do with protecting students, lecturers or those working for the university; but they have everything to do with trying to prevent us from exposing the animal abuse inside Oxford University.
Despite only wanting to leaflet, the police enforced a section 14 and instigated a forced march through the very centre of the city, an area that SPEAK had previously been told we would not be allowed to march down because of safety concerns. Members of the public looked on in disbelief as hundreds of police officers flanked the leafletters and forced them away from informing the public of the truth, finally coralling the leafleters into a side road away from the gaze of the public.
SPEAK would like to thank all those brave people that came to Oxford on Saturday - you are an example to us all. The afternoon in Oxford saw one of the worst thunder storms anyone had ever seen. The rain was torrential for about 2 hours without any respite, but activists remained stalwart throughout the deluge as the vivisection industry's enforcers carried on with their assigned duties. If Oxford University and the Labour Government ever questioned the resolve of the animal rights movement, then they must be truly frightened by the spirit shown by those that came to Oxford on Saturday.
Despite the police oppression and despite the appalling weather, 200 people stood shoulder to shoulder and kept up a constant chant for the duration of the storm. Soaked through, they remained at their positions. With such resolve we were truly a force to be reckoned with. With such continued determination, we will defeat Oxford University and ultimately the vivisection industry.
SPEAK has learnt much from the police operation on Saturday. They have given us a great insight as to exactly what they are protecting and plans are already afoot to get over our message to the greatest number of people. At the end of the day, SPEAK is adamant that OUR message will be heard and nothing that the vivisection industry and their friends in authority do will prevent us from exposing that truth.
See you in Oxford very soon.
No matter where you are in the UK or even the world you can help us stop Oxford University's plans from increasing the number of animals they want to torture. Click here for details
http://www.speakcampaigns.org.uk/news/20060722demo_George.php
The answer to these questions is NO: the hundreds of police officers that were on the streets of Oxford on Saturday weren’t there to protect the public. They weren’t there to foil an attack by a terrorist group. The simple truth of the matter is: they were there to prevent people from leafleting in the city of Oxford - welcome to Blair’s Britain. Welcome to Britain in the 21st century.
Tourists and shoppers looked on aghast as police officers forced their way through streets packed with shoppers. It was impossible for police officers to distinguish animal rights campaigners who were there to tell the truth, from those that were in Oxford to either sightsee or shop. No one was immune from the police operation, as they stopped both shopper and campaigner alike.
In the region of 200 animal rights campaigners responded to the call by SPEAK to attend Oxford on the 22nd July in order to remember the sad life of George. George lived a miserable life. A macaque monkey kidnapped from his jungle homeland, he suffered horrors that few people could ever imagine. The Oxford University professor who tortured him saw him as nothing more than a tool. The same professor that tortured George had previously been investigated for cruelty to a monkey he was experimenting on.
People came from all corners of England to remember George; to remember one individual monkey who symbolises just what the animal rights message is all about and illustrates more than anything else just what we are fighting for. We can’t bring George back, nor any of the other poor non human animals that have died such violent deaths at the hands of the vivisectors. What we can do is tell the truth. And therein lies the problem: Oxford University don’t want the public to know the truth. The Government have too much to lose if the public are made aware of the horrors being perpetrated against sentient creatures inside vivisection laboratories and the vast amounts of money being made by companies involved in this form of animal abuse. The police operation on Saturday had only one objective and that was to prevent us from telling the truth.
What the Police operation clearly illustrated is that Oxford University, the Government and the vivisection industry are terrified of the truth being told. The massive police presence highlights just how desperate they are to muzzle us. SPEAK has insisted from the start of the campaign that the vivisectors and their friends in authority will try every dirty trick in the book to try and discredit our compassionate message. This fact is clearly seen in the injunctions that have been issued against SPEAK. The injunctions have absolutely nothing to do with protecting students, lecturers or those working for the university; but they have everything to do with trying to prevent us from exposing the animal abuse inside Oxford University.
Despite only wanting to leaflet, the police enforced a section 14 and instigated a forced march through the very centre of the city, an area that SPEAK had previously been told we would not be allowed to march down because of safety concerns. Members of the public looked on in disbelief as hundreds of police officers flanked the leafletters and forced them away from informing the public of the truth, finally coralling the leafleters into a side road away from the gaze of the public.
SPEAK would like to thank all those brave people that came to Oxford on Saturday - you are an example to us all. The afternoon in Oxford saw one of the worst thunder storms anyone had ever seen. The rain was torrential for about 2 hours without any respite, but activists remained stalwart throughout the deluge as the vivisection industry's enforcers carried on with their assigned duties. If Oxford University and the Labour Government ever questioned the resolve of the animal rights movement, then they must be truly frightened by the spirit shown by those that came to Oxford on Saturday.
Despite the police oppression and despite the appalling weather, 200 people stood shoulder to shoulder and kept up a constant chant for the duration of the storm. Soaked through, they remained at their positions. With such resolve we were truly a force to be reckoned with. With such continued determination, we will defeat Oxford University and ultimately the vivisection industry.
SPEAK has learnt much from the police operation on Saturday. They have given us a great insight as to exactly what they are protecting and plans are already afoot to get over our message to the greatest number of people. At the end of the day, SPEAK is adamant that OUR message will be heard and nothing that the vivisection industry and their friends in authority do will prevent us from exposing that truth.
See you in Oxford very soon.
No matter where you are in the UK or even the world you can help us stop Oxford University's plans from increasing the number of animals they want to torture. Click here for details
http://www.speakcampaigns.org.uk/news/20060722demo_George.php
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