 |
 |
|
|
Home
| 10th
March 1995
| Issue 13 SchNEWSDISORGANISATION n. An unstructured protest group of the mid-Nineties, without the leadership of a conventional organisation. Want to join one of the loose coalitions such as Justice?, fighting road-building and criminal-justice laws? Don't expect to fill in an application form. CJA Arrestometer McPolice On The Way?"well with the new Act basically the world's your oyster you could sponsor us for anything at all - it's only limited by your imagination" - AVON & SOMERSET POLICE Imagine the scene a road traffic accident on the A4. A drink-driver has knocked down and seriously injured a pedestrian. A forensic examination vehicle arrives to take evidence. The victim, blood streaming down their face peers up and can faintly make out a logo on the side of the police van - "Threshers, your No.1 off-licence". Threshers became the first commercial company to sponsor the Police service last month under a new Act which will change the public face of the policing. Section 23 of the new Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 states that "A police authority may, in connection with the discharge of any of its functions, accept gifts and money [including] commercial sponsorship". They even calculated that the controversy would attract further publicity and were very pleased with the result. Nuclear Electric have followed up with a joint deal on a communications centre for the use of Avon & Somerset police (it stands empty at present on standby for a nuclear emergency) and Eagle Star and RMI are also said to be interested. SchNEWS contacted Avon & Somerset Police to see just how far they are selling out. The switchboard was enthusiastic "oh we are always looking for sponsorship" - and put us through to Inspector Bob Lewis (Community liaison). Bob's field is car crime which he admitted "isn't very sexy" but added: "this is an aside but we have a very good relationship with the press and if we send out a press release it usually ends up as a story if you follow what I mean". He put us through to very helpful Penny Hallett (sponsorship committee) on the promise of a very good deal to cover the South-West. "We are looking for £50,000 for a radio advertising campaign on crime prevention using a 60s song", explained Penny, who on prompting started singing the sad jingle: "let's hang on to what we've got ... don't let go girl, you've got a lot". SchNEWS explained they were looking for something a little more tasty. "Well with the new Act basically the world's your oyster," spouted Penny. "You could sponsor us for anything at all - it's only limited by your imagination" Would it be possible to sponsor a police operation, say "Operation Coca-Cola?" "yes but I suppose it depends what it was. Maybe not an armed operation". There is a code of conduct, of course. The only hard rule is that gifts loans and sponsorship should not exceed a maximum equivalent value of 1% of force budget. The rest of the carefully-worded guideline tries to tip-toe through the obvious paradox of police accepting money from business like it "should not be accepted where there is a risk of offending the integrity of the police". I think most people would agree Avon & Somerset have exceeded that already. Inside SchNEWSJohn Livingstone, HMP Greenock, Greenock, Glasgow. Jim Chambers, PV2504, HMP Wormwood Scrubs, PO Box 757. Du Cane Rd., London, W12 0AE. Sack RevengeNinety six bus drivers in Chelmsford, who were sacked before Christmas for refusing to accept cuts in their bus service have de cided to hit their ex-employer - Badgerline Holdings- where it hurts - by offering a free bus service to the public in opposition to the company's one! The drivers have run the free service since the beginning of January. They have 11 buses and have the support of their union, the TGWU. The public support for the free service is, not surprisingly, pretty wide-spread. But not just because it means free bus rides. Anyone who uses public transport knows that is it is being deliberately run down through privatisation. And the Bus drivers action is getting massive support because it is a stand for ordinary people against the greed of a few rich bus companies and their directors. As Steve Argent, the local union branch chair told the SchNEWS "They can't understand that we're doing this for nothing and they hate it. Nowadays everything is geared for profit and if there's not money to be made these companies don't give a monkeys. It just like the roads they're building while they cut public transport. They draw a line through a map and build a road without listening to anybody." Badgerline Holdings have tried to stop the free buses but, just like the anti- CJA and anti-road activities that use a bit of imagination, they really can't work out how to do it! SchNEWS LIVE!
Out Of Site Out Of MindON APRIL 10th SECTIONS OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT WHICH GIVE POLICE THE RIGHT TO CONFISCATE SOUND EQUIPMENT AND VEHICLES WILL BECOME LAW. FOR RAVE PARTY ORGANISERS THIS COULD MEAN CONFISCATION AND POSSIBLY DESTRUCTION OF SOUND EQUIPMENT FOR TRAVELLERS (all travellers - Romany, Tinkers, New Age...) THIS COULD MEAN CONFISCATION AND DESTRUCTION OF THEIR HOMES (FOR WHICH THEY WILL HAVE TO PAY). Life has never been easy for travellers in a society where a settled existence is the norm and they have always faced prejudice, suspicion and discrimination. However since the mid 80s things have been getting steadily worse. The five mile exclusion zone round Stonehenge to prevent the Peoples Free Festival culminated in the Battle of the Beanfield when 1,000 riot police trashed a few hundred travellers and their vehicles, leading to the largest mass arrest of civilians in the UK for centuries; coupled with the 1984/85 Miners Strike this was a milestone in British public order policy and a taster of what was to come - The 1986 Public Order Act. The repeated attacks by Tory party ministers wanting to rally the party faithful. The establishment of Operation Snapshot a database logging all travellers names, nicknames, associates and vehicles, the majority of whom have committed no crime. And flow the CJA which gives the police increased powers to remove travellers and seize their vehicles from land even when the owner of the land has given permission to stay there. The owners of the vehicles will even have to pay for having their vehicles destroyed by the police! At the same time as making it a criminal offence for six or more vehicles to be on an unauthorised site the Act takes away the duty of local authorities to establish sites where travellers can stay legally. "Two thirds of the new
age travellers involved in the study reported that they had been
forced into travelling because of the circumstances they were in.
They included homelessness, family breakdown, leaving care, leaving
prison, insecure housing arrangements, leaving the army, the need
to escape from an abusive partner and financial difficulties...
only 2 out of the 98 travellers in the study stated that they had
an existing alternative to travelling... there were no travellers
in the study who believed they had real access to current authorised
sites:" In addition there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest a mass exodus of this country's nomadic population to Ireland, Spain and Portugal. Figures are difficult to obtain but it could be as much as 60-70%. At the heart of all this is the issue of land. Travellers have unwittingly placed themselves in the front-line of the struggle for land reform in a country where up to 75% is owned by just one per cent! Increasingly the traditional stopping places around Britain are being gated, blocked up and ditched off. An escalating number of injunctions means there are now very few places left to go (one survey in the Somerset area revealed that 72% of the traditional sites were unusable because of vigilante violence or by being blocked off) - leading to more illegal encampments. This would not be so much a problem if adequate sites were provided. The space is there but not the political will. The Royal Society for Nature Conservation estimates there are 210,000 acres of derelict land alone in Britain (four times the size of Leeds!) THE PICTURE SO FAR - POST CJA Gathering info on travellers is nigh on an impossible task, but so far as SchNEWS can deduce, 11 travellers have been arrested under the CJA but many more have been threatened with it in order to move them on. * Travellers up at Fort William in Scotland are due to appear in court in March under the Scottish Criminal Trespass Act 1865, and then if this proves unsuccessful then April 28th under the CJA which effectively gives the courts two bites of the cherry to get convictions. * Romany gypsies in Cleethorpes have been on an unofficial site on land owned by the county council for the past four years. A few years ago the Council tried to evict but were thwarted by a judge who refused until a suitable site was found under The Caravan Sites Act 1968, which gave the duty of all local authorities to provide sites. A search was made and despite 40 being looked at and one even being promised grant money by the Dept of Environment none was found. Under the CJA the Council now has no duty to look for an alternative site for travellers and they are again trying to evict them. * In East London travellers have been harassed from site to site with one pleasant police inspector warning travellers that come the CJA the police were going to make their lives hell. "It is time that society at large began to recognise that the state's efforts to make our lives difficult are a symptom of the wider erosion of civil liberties. When the boundaries of freedom begin to close in they inevitably hit the people on the fringes before the people in the centre. In the 1930's during the rise of the Nazis in Germany, it was the free-thinking people who were the first targets - travellers, artists, and philosophers. The same thing is happening in this country? AND NOW SOME GOOD SchNEWS. Somerset County Council have decided to establish 6 transit sites for new age travellers. Contact Ian Cairns, gypsy liaison officer for Somerset County Council. BUCKLEY CASE A gypsy evicted from her sisters land was ruled in the European Court that it infringed her traditional rights. Contact Luke Clements lawyer who dealt with it 0432 277554 Two recent conferences in the south west on travellers showed that local politicians and councillors see that doing nothing is not a solution and that progress is necessary if councils are to reduce the costs of chasing travellers around, as well as fulfilling responsibilities under various legislation such as the Children's Act. Steve Staines of Friends and Families of Travellers talked about temporary sites that could only be used for 3 months of the year. This received a good response from Cornwall Social Services Department. FRIENDS FAMILIES AND TRAVELLERS SUPPORT GROUP 01258 454563 TRAVELLERS LEGAL ADVICE LINE 01222 874 580 9am - 1pm weekdays only *** A major occupation of land "Operation Dragon" is planned to take place on Sunday 23rd April in the south-east. SAE Land Reform, Box B, 111 Magdalen Rd., Oxford, OX4 1RQ E-mail: eartharc@gnapc.org. STOP-PRESS: Travellers on the Level, Brighton, eviction this Monday (13 Mar?) - East Sussex Council said "We won't give you and eviction date cos we'd have a riot on our hands..." Party and ProtestSAT 11 - TUE 14 MAR Anniversary Celebration at Solsbury Hill. Camping on hilltop all weekend. Anti-CJA Demo Saturday. Meet at Alice Park between 12pm. Mass Celebration Tue 0374 953160. MON 13 MAR Fort William Travellers to be charged under Criminal Trespass Act, (later to be charged under CJA Sect. 61) THUR 16 MAR Court Hearing of Romany Gypsies in Cleethorpes under Sect 77 of the CJA. Cleethorpes Council 041 72200200 THUR 16 MAR Campaign against JobSeekers' Allowance Meeting, 7.30pm Brighton Unemployed Centre. 01273 671213 SAT 18 MAR JUSTICE? to open the new SQUAT! DiY CULTURE IN ACTION! More info on 01 273 685 913 Running liberty's Regional Legal Conference. CJA workshops on Raves, Squatters, Protesters, Hunt Sabs, Travellers, Festivals and Camps. MON 27 MAR Direct Action Conference, Berlin. More info phone SchNEWS. 13-17 APRIL Earth First! Gathering near Swindon 0794 512790 SQUALL 9 "the magazine for assorted itinerants" is now out £1 + SAE St Pauls Road London N1 2QN. For general info...
For further copies of the SchNEWS send stamps/donations (payable to Justice?) SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2 600 Brighton East Sussex . Tel: (01273) 685 913. Or pick one up @ Peace Centre, Gardener St, Brighton and around town e-mail: Justice?@phreak.intermedia.co.uk Justice? meet every Wednesday 7pm @ prince albert SchNEWS is open to all gifts and loans in discharge of it's functions!
|
||
|
@nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute! |
||
