UK UK Newswire Archive
Meeting against the Dispersal Order
18-04-2011 14:23
Say No to the Dispersal Order meeting.Sunday April 24th from midday, come to the Nottingham Solidarity Cafe at the Sumac Centre, 245 Gladstone Street.
A dispersal order has been placed on Forest Fields. It is aimed at groups of two or more people, or anyone under 16. It means that if you're standing on the street with friends and neighbours the police are allowed to ask you to move along. If you don't then it's a criminal offence. This is another example of police harassing the local community.
Let's work out together what we can do about this.We'll be meeting at the Sumac Centre on midday this Sunday 24th of April
Police "too focused on kettling"
18-04-2011 13:25
Senior police officers focused too much on "kettling" during the march against government spending cuts last month, human rights campaigners have said.
A review by 120 legal observers from Liberty said the containment tactic was "under near constant consideration" when potential trouble spots emerged.
It said the tactic undermined trust between peaceful protesters and police.
But it also said the police response to the TUC march in London was "in general proportionate".
Liberty was invited to observe the march by the TUC and Scotland Yard.
Kettling is a police tactic in which protesters are contained in one area by a cordon of officers.
Liberty's report and the observers' role was restricted to the policing of the official TUC "March for the Alternative" event, on 26 March.
"It was not within our remit to observe the policing of events after the TUC march, or completely extraneous to it," the observers say.
A total of 201 arrests were made on the day but these were at protests separate from the official anti-government cuts rally. In Piccadilly, shops and banks were attacked, and damage was caused to the Ritz hotel.
Most of the arrests - 145 - were made after campaign group UK Uncut staged a sit-in at a luxury store Fortnum & Mason in protest over alleged tax avoidance by part-owners of the business.
Trouble also flared in central London in Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square.
'Restrained and proportionate'
The legal observers were posted along the march, which was the biggest trade union event for 20 years, and the biggest protest in London since the 2003 anti-war march.
The TUC estimated that the five-hour march attracted between 250,000 and 500,000 people, with 4,500 police officers involved in the whole operation.
The report said there was "no doubt that the official trade union-led demonstration was overwhelmingly civil, peaceful and good-natured and that the police response was in general proportionate".
At some points, observers praised the police's restraint when faced with "some provocation".
However it also criticised the police for "too great a focus of police attention" on kettling.
Liberty's position is that the tactic is fatally flawed by the inevitability of detaining the innocent with the guilty.
But in the police control room there seemed to be "continual expectation that a containment would be imposed at some point".
"The question seemed to be more 'when' than 'if'," it said.
Communication problems
It said protesters had become wary of the possibility of being kettled and it appeared to "seriously to undermine the relationship of trust and confidence between peaceful protesters and the police".
"The possibility of mass containment of peaceful protesters has undoubtedly had a chilling effect on many people's rights to freedom of expression and assembly," it added.
It questioned why such a "blunt, resource-heavy, and logistically difficult tactic" had become "such a favoured tactic in the policing of protest".
The report on the event also said some officers had to use mobile phones because their police radios failed to work properly, hampering their ability to deal with breakaway groups.
Scotland Yard welcomed the report.
Assistant Commissioner Lynne Owens said: "We were faced with the difficult task of striking the right balance between ensuring the vast majority of people were able to peacefully protest whilst managing the small number of criminals intent on disorder.
"In what was a significant and challenging policing operation we welcome Liberty's overall conclusion that the policing was proportionate."
HSBC3 Defence Campaign
18-04-2011 13:24
The HSBC 3 Defence Campaign was set up last December to defend three activists arrested on the 18th December at a protest against tax avoidance, on a UKUncut national day of action. The protest was lively but peaceful, and occupied many relevant shops and businesses supporting the cuts - including Mark's and Spencer, Boots, and Vodaphone. The three activists were targeted by the police to end the protest, to intimidate and deter young people from protesting against the government's savage public spending cuts.
Mark Pearson was the first to be arrested, accused of 'Breaking the conditions' imposed upon a demonstration. Patrick Reay was then arrested for apparently obstructing the arrest of Mark, and Toby Hobbs was arrested 4 days later whilst manning a Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! stall, accused of obstructing the arrest of Patrick. Mark and Patrick were both given harsh bail conditions, banning them from the city centre, in a clear attempt to prevent their attendance at further protests. The arrests were transparently political in nature, and are part of a worrying trend of systematic police repression against anyone taking direct action against the cuts.
Ratcliffe protesters encouraged to appeal
18-04-2011 13:19
The 20 protesters convicted of 'conspiracy to commit aggravated trespass' at the Ratcliffe power station are being invited to appeal because of Mark Kennedy's involvement (link below).Anti-nuclear campaigners set for weekend of seaside action
18-04-2011 11:55
The annual beach camp beside the nuclear power station in Suffolk, England, now into its third year, will have added significance this year due to the unfolding disaster at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant in Japan, and because it marks 25 years since the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in the Ukraine. (2)
Mitie offices attacked in Hartcliffe
18-04-2011 09:33
15-20 windows smashed at Mitie offices in Hartcliffe.BP Protest Flashmob at Tate Modern
18-04-2011 01:24
BP sponsorship protest at tate modern, see http://london.indymedia.org/articles/8748
Tahrir
18-04-2011 01:24
The sound of Revolution!!! and Celebration!!!
Tahrir Square Cairo kicks off and the Mubarak regime is swept from power!
A shining example of people power
Project Work - the original workfare scheme
18-04-2011 00:03
A group for those who have experienced Project Work in MedwayBP sponsorship protest at tate modern
17-04-2011 23:22
more than a hundred acitvists took part in a sleep-in flashmob at tate modern this afternoon in protest at the the gallery's continued assocation with world eco-criminal 'british petroleum'.
despite the presence of several police, and security carrying out baggage searches at the south bank tate modern museum today, dozens of activists staged a succesful protest to highlight BP's attempt to repair its tarnished global image by sponsoring cultural spaces and events across the UK.
at exactly 2.15, at various points throughout every floor of the galleries, more than a hundred people simultaneously laid down, mostly covered with sheets and mock BP logos, put on BP-sponsored blindfolds, and 'fell asleep'. after four minutes, their BP-sponsored alarm clocks went off, filling the space with sound, and signifying a 'wake-up call' to tell tate to liberate itself from BP's dirty oil money.
at the same time, outside the gallery, two bamboo tripods were erected and activists strung banners between them, set up a bicycle sound system, and waited for people to emerge from the buidling.
for the next hour, speakers took the mic, and drew crowds of passers-by on a glorious sunny afternoon on the south bank.
an indigenous activist from the canadian province of north alberta spoke about how, while BP is busy pushing its public relations offensive to repair the enormous reputational damage caused by the mexico gulf disaster, they are also quietly continuing their 'sunrise project' in canada, a vast tar sands extraction programme which will cover a huge area of pristine boreal forest, threatening caribou herds with extinction and causing ecological havoc. we heard how the project has begun without BP consulting with local communities, thus violating indigenous treaty rights. the work has created serious safety concerns, with several steam blowouts already documented.
an activist from lousiana told how her family had fished for generations, but that the fishing community was now decimated by the BP gulf disaster. she was angry that, while fishing boats had been subject to draconian regulations and fishermen had been imprisoned for minor violations, BP executives had gotten away with the disaster without criminal charges or investigations, and her life and the lives of whole communities around her had been destroyed by the oil, the clean-up chemicals, and the devastated eco-system.
BP has announced it will also resume operations in the mexican gulf in july.
www.artnotoil.org.uk/bpweekofaction
www.no-tar-sands.org
www.risingtide.org.uk
www.ienearth.org/tarsands.html
Accusations against the global sex industry
17-04-2011 22:59
I want to give my support to the accusations against the global sex industry. Indeed I observe from my place in the work against sexist violence that the sex industry is guilty of overwhelming overpowering that is dominating our government, our community and our selves.The ‘Golden Years” cry of defiance
17-04-2011 20:22
It was Wednesday 13th April at a pre-arranged hour. The sound of song and short speeches filled South London, hundreds of people gathering to say ‘NO' to the closure of the Golden Years Day Centre.
People began arriving at midday from all around the city, in groups large and small or simply in pairs. They were headed for the front of the Phoenix Building, from where Lambeth Social Services is run.
They came radiant with energy and determination, overcoming the pains in their bones, the inevitable fatigue, the long distances and the debilitations of old age. In some cases, the journey even involved wheelchairs.
But they came. They brought placards, musical instruments and brightly coloured clothing. Above all they brought determination to demonstrate against the attitude of indifference shown by those with the power to change their fortunes. Against the lack of understanding and abandonment shown by those in whose hands their fate lay, Lambeth Social Services.
Those we would classify strictly as pensioners were perhaps not many, 20, 30 or even 40.. The number was irrelevant however. For we can be certain that alongside them were great numbers of boys and girls, teenagers, men and women, grandchildren, children, parents ... dozens if not hundreds.
These various generations of people owed their very existences to this older generation. And now they were demanding in no uncertain terms that their age, their rights and their centre be respected.
The Golden Years Day Centre has been running for more than 20 years, serving London's community of elderly Latin Americans. It carries out a unique service, facing continual challenges of inadequate facilities, funding and an uncertain future. Its fate is now in the hands of Lambeth Social Services.
The centre has enabled dozens of elderly Latin Americans to build lives with the care and attention they need. Its definitive closure would put these lives at risk, yet this does not seem to have been considered by many.
The protest essentially took the whole street over and continued for several hours. Over and over they repeated as one their demands, demonstrators and the council's ‘targets' chanting alongside each other... We heard the voice of Genoveva, the centre's most ‘senior' senior citizen. Also Fernando Vergara's, artist, long-term centre member and husband of Amada Silva, Golden Year's founder and coordinator. They and other centre members were there, each contributing what time and energy they could to the protest.
But this represented, more strikingly, a coming together of allies, individuals and organisations there to express their collective solidarity with Golden Years. This was no chance gathering, some having worked since the beginning and weeks before to ensure that Golden Years was not alone. Some joined the cause the day before, some on that very same day to lend a few hours support. There were those who travelled in from the city's outskirts and those, best of all, who came down from Phoenix Building itself. In this little party of defiance, protest and solidarity, the voices of those experienced in demonstrations uniting with those experienced in life. There were speeches, slogans, placards the length and breadth of the pavement, smiling singing artists.. A beautifully conspiratorial demonstration of solidarity and joy.
At this time of writing, Lambeth Social Services has been in contact with Amada Silva. There are several options on the table but nothing is assured. Promises may be held, maybe not, but they will need to realistically take account of the centre's logistical and financial needs.
The decision to organise this protest as part of the campaign against the closure was the initiative of Golden Years members. They have been supported since the beginning by various groups and organisations however. This includes The Prisma - The Multicultural Paper, Latin American Coalition Against the Cuts (COLACOR), Lambeth Save Our Services, Lambeth Pensioners Group and All Aged Pensioners. Joining the campaign later was the Latin American Migrant Association (LAMA) and other British and Latin American groups set up to fight the cuts, as well as varied private individuals..
For more information, contact latinamgyc@btconnect.com, lagydc@yahoo.co.uk, telephone 020 7793 0469, postal address 1-29 Cancell Road, London, SW9 6HN.
Images saying more than words ever can, The Prisma has reproduced part of this story. Visual record obtained from the participants of this ‘action'.
Time is certainly running out. ‘Compassion' for minorities, the handicapped, or those outside the capitalist system does not even cross the current government's mind. So why should they pay any attention to a group of pensioners, pensioners from Latin American? Immigrants from a region with an alien language and cultural roots, who have struggled falling between the categories of ‘legal' and ‘illegal' and continue to. To be elderly, immigrant and Latin American.. in a time of crisis!
Web address:
http://www.theprisma.co.uk/2011/04/10/13th-april-%E2%80%98los-anos-dorados%E2%80%99-will-%E2%80%9Coccupy%E2%80%9D-the-lss/
http://www.theprisma.co.uk/2011/03/28/the-golden-years-and-their-final-battle/
(Translated by Andrew Edwards - Email: andrewedwards89@hotmail.com)
London Mayday 2011 - A celebration of our strength // Anarchist Public Assembly
17-04-2011 19:45
Zapatista Solidarity in Glasgow
17-04-2011 19:36
Screening of Health and Solidarity (25 min.)- The twinning of Zapatista Solidarity Groups in Scotland with the Zapatista Autonomous Municipality '16th February' in Chiapas, Mexico.
+ Latest Video Message from an indigenous community in struggle in Chiapas
Followed by Glasgow Chiapas Solidarity Group organising meeting
Flash Mob Photos
17-04-2011 18:55
Couple of photo sets from today are here:Dissident Island Radio 15 April - ready for download
17-04-2011 18:53
