Home | 6th October 1995 | Issue 43

Wake Up! Wake Up! The World Is Under Attack!

SchNEWS

SchNEWS special Report - The Battle Of Hyde Park - One year on. A report of the 100,000 strong anti-CJA march in Nov 94

SchNEWS special Report - The Labour Party Conference Brighton 95

SQUATTERS 1
LANDLORDS 0

Landlords left court with Criminal Justice Act egg on the face on Monday when an eviction using the new squatting laws was thrown out of court. In late August landlords were given an extra legal tool with which to evict squatters. However Monday's hearing brought by the Bristol Church Housing Association to evict two homeless people goes back to court this coming Monday - where the Christians could face a Judicial Review, which would take up to a year ! A jubilant spokesperson from the Advisory Service for Squatters (ASS) told SchNEWS "I think we're gonna have a few of these". Locally there is a huge campaign with shops and houses covered in posters slagging off the Trust and supporting the squatters. The ASS added: "The Bristol Church are well in the shit and deserve everything that's coming to them". So, no score on the Arrestometer yet... just a big minus for landlords.

REMEMBER squatting is still legal! A new issue of the Squatters Handbook will be out from late October. 2 St Pauls Road, London, N1 2QN. 0171 359 8814.

* The Housing Information Project (HIP) have organised a celebration action event to mark the 20th anniversary of the famous Elgin Avenue squatters victory. It will include exhibitions, films, discussions at WECH Community Centre, Elgin Avenue, Harrow Road, W9, noon till 7pm (0171 277 7639). They've also produced an action pack on the new laws. 20p + SAE to 612 Old Kent Road, London SE 15 1JB.

20/20 VISION?

Last Tuesday Margaret Jones and Richard Lloyd became the first in the country to be charged under the new 'trespassory assembly' sections of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA). They were arrested in June whilst outside Stonehenge on a vigil commemorating ten years since the Battle of the Beanfield (when riot police trashed travellers and their vehicles to stop the Stonehenge Free Festival, carrying out the largest mass arrest of civilians for hundreds of years - see SchNEWS 25).

The Dracanion new laws ban gatherings of more than 20 people on private land - the defendants argued that there was only 19 of them. In court, the policemen and security guards who were called to witness by the prosecution couldn't quite make their minds up how many people were actually there. One said 25, one said 20, and another said 21. Then a video was produced in which Margaret Jones was heard clearly to count up to nineteen, (obviously it was a bit much to expect the police to be able to count). But the courts were evidently stinging from the case of Arthur Pendragon, the Druid who walked free from a similar charge earlier this month. They talked disparagingly of the gatherers as being "members of the travelling community" and tried to make out Margaret Jones was guilty because she was carrying a solicitor's phone number around with her that day! At one point, it was even suggested that Margaret was so hysterical she couldn't count. They charged her with £100 costs and Richard with a £400 fine and £100 costs, both suspended pending appeal.

Margaret told SchNEWS: "We do see this as a political decision and we will fight it as we have to to uphold our right of peaceable assembly." They are even prepared to take it to The European Court. We wish them the best of luck.

CHILDREN'S PRISONS ILLEGAL?

The introduction of children's prisons - a particularly nasty bit of the CJA, and that's saying something - suffered another setback on Monday when the Howard League for Penal Reform extracted major concessions from the Home Office.

The League agreed to postpone its application for judicial review of the Home Secretary's plans for 'secure training centres' for 12 to 14 years olds. The Home Office have promised to implement the standards required in the Children Act when building and operating the proposed centres.

Local authorities and social workers have refused to have anything to do with the new prisons because the idea is so fuckin stupid, so they are to be built and run - for a profit - by private security firms such as Group 4, Premier Prisons and the Correction Corporation of America (honest!). The Howard League will continue to monitor the government s plans, and try to ensure they do not breach the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

And SchNEWS will continue to keep you posted on how the CJA scapegoats and blames another vulnerable group for society's ills - our children.

SchNEWS Special Report
Labour Party Conference Brighton 95

As conference capers come to an end, surely it's...

THE LAST STRAW

Ultra New Labour's Presidential candidate, Tony Bleurghh, won over Britain's burgeoning two million homeless people with the pledge that every cardboard box on every street wall be connected to the "information superhighway". Conference went into ecstasy when he cast off tired old Labour ideas like fairness, equality, and common ownership to invoke the thinking of the great Walt Disney. (He actually used the word 'Bambi' an has keynote speech more often than 'socialism' (true). Oh deer.

Meanwhile Jack 'squeegee' Straw has pledged to be "tough on blacks, tough on the causes of blacks" according to Bernie Grant, one of only five black Labour MPs. He reported that Straw had commented: "There's not enough room for a piece of tissue paper between me and Michael Howard on immigration policy." Spot the difference on homeless people cut off from benefits, either: "the streets should be reclaimed for the law-abiding citizen from the aggressive begging of winos, addicts and squeegee merchants, who are obstacles faced by pedestrians and motorists going about their daily business" (STRAW) "There as no justification for anybody begging an this country when we have a welfare state" (HOWARD). Jack the lad was a 'hardcore protester' , however, as he related to an audience an a fringe debate called (rhetorically?) 'Why Vote?'. Jack once saved a statue of an angel being turned into a roundabout in has home town. So that's alright then.

AND IN THE RED CORNER...

Arthur Scargill as quite an oddity at the Labour conference - a socialist who believes in direct action to

defend jobs, our environment and basic rights. At last week's TUC conference, just after receiving a copy of the SchNEWS, Arthur said that the Labour movement was losing the moral high ground to those, such as environmental and animal rights protesters, who are prepared to defy the law for what as right. With Tony Blair now completely an control of the Labour Party this week Scargill said that he was considering leaving. "I thank that thought as crossing a lot of people's minds. I joined this party to change society. I did not join this party to manage capitalism better than the Tories."

SchNEWS tracked down Arthur at the Labour Party conference and in an exclusive 12 second interview with us he urged SchNEWS readers to "Keep on fighting, keep on defying the law, because you're right". Well, with views like that we can't see much of a future for him an Blair's 'patriotic' Labour Party.

Come join us, comrade!

LABOUR THUMBS UP TO CJA - AGAIN

Labour, who criminally abstained on the Criminal Justice Act when at passed through Parliament last year, yesterday cynically ignored a call for the Party to repeal what has been described as the "most Draconian piece of legislation this century". Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw, dealing with a motion from the Preston branch which slammed the Act and called for immediate repeal, urged conference to reject it - ignoring the screaming outcry from every section of the judiciary, civil liberties groups, and targeted minorities which has rumbled on all year. Preston were given 186 seconds to state their case to conference. Any credibility as an opposition party must surely be gone.

Worse, an a farcical piece of screwed logic, Straw lied, misled, fudged and twisted the issues in front of the assembled Labour groupies. He claimed "we did oppose all three sections you mentioned" (there were six) and based his reasons for objection on the fact that the motion called for complete repeal (it called for "repeal of appropriate sections") and that it's complete repeal would therefore mean reversing the lowering of the age of consent. (one section in a 171 section Act). Pathetic.

The motion (called a composite) had stated: "This conference as totally opposed to the CJA. This Act will make criminals of thousands of ordinary people; take away the right to silence; hound travellers, whose only crime as to have no fixed abode, and victimise private tenants; gave police powers to stop and search equivalent to the discredited "sus" laws; criminalise pickets and demonstrations; and allow private companies to profiteer immorally from the imprisonment of offenders with more privatisation of prisons and parts of prisons and that it has taken away the right to take any form of industrial action from prison service trade unions". We couldn't have put it better ourselves! Preston called on a future Labour government to "repeal the appropriate sections of this repressive Act". Totally ignored. SchNEWS says to Preston ... Leave the Labour Party and get involved an politics!

* Section 170 of the Criminal Justice Act charges the costs of security at party conferences to the tax-payer in the form of grants from the Treasury and away from Party funds (which are always an the red). Thanks again, Michael.

back in the real world...
BRIGHTON JOB CLUB DRAMA - 31 NICKED

Exasperated police made a blanket arrest of an entire demonstration on Monday after protestors fighting the proposed Job Seekers Allowance occupied offices running compulsory training for the unemployed.

It followed a hectic three hour dash around Brighton's JobCentres which reached its highpoint when activists scaled the 6-storey roof of the plush Metropole Hotel where Labour's National Executive were staying for their annual seaside conference.

Labour are being targeted as vehemently as the government in betraying the provisions of the Welfare State.

Over thirty people were arrested and charged with some of the most ridiculous `crimes' SchNEWS has ever heard of (see crap arrests of the conference)

More seriously, all 31 nicked are on police bail pending charges of criminal damage and breach of the peace. What to? The carpet?!

The Job Seeker's Allowance will bar people from social security systems for six months if claimants break 'official instructions' (JobSeekers Directive). This could be 'refusing to work without good cause' (£1 an hour is not good cause) or not even getting your hair cut. Sanctions will apply to all people who do not satisfy 'labour market conditions'.

The first National Day of Action kicked off at West St Job Centre where police sealed off the area - but protestors moved quickly on to Upper North St Job Centre, while the boys in blue tried to keep up. Liz Davies, the woman so dangerously leftwing and radical that Tony Blair is vetoing her selection as a Leeds MP was spotted on the pavement as the march went by. Marchers asked her to join but seemingly taking part in a march is too wildly extreme for a 'left-wing' labour type. Can't blot that CV, eh Liz?

A spontaneous attempt to occupy the offices of the sham compulsory workshops - JobPlan/Restart/Workwise - was thwarted as police roughly evicted people from the lobby. Across town, St James Job Centre was occupied before the conference rooftop escapade. Other protestors joined animal rights activists chanting "Live export Tony Blair!' with a banner declaring 'Labour - Tories: Hands off our Benefits' while others caused chaos in the hotel foyer. Merciless abuse greeted exiting Labour MPs Jack Straw, Tony Benn, Roy Hattersley, Gordon Brown and Dennis Skinner. Three hours later, as the demonstrators took over the Grand Met, police finally moved in to make the mass arrest. They were released after ten hours in the cells (where all were questioned about a missing police truncheon and inspector's helmet).

The Job Seekers Allowance is due to begin in October 1996.

JSA? No fucking way!! Contact: Brighton Claimants Actions Group 01273 671213

SchNEWSNIGHT!

Following the detainment of the JSA 31, Justice? received a call dis-inviting us from taking part in a live Newsnight debate. Undeterred, various suited members disguised as being from obscure 'Labour branches' arrived for the broadcast to tell a few million people what the score was. "Can Labour Deliver?' asked Jeremy Paxman.

'No but Justice? can', came the reply in a classic hit of TV ....

PAXMAN: Yes, has anyone else got a point about New Labour?

JUSTICE?: Coming a couple of weeks after Jack Straw made his remarks about squeegee merchants and beggars getting in the way of law-abiding people on the street, I'd like to make the point that there's 31 people in prison tonight who were arrested today on the anti-Job Seeker's Allowance Demonstration who felt that they had come into conflict with the police because there's no parliamentary representation of them. In terms of specifics myself and people like me feel that the Labour Party have abandoned those of a low wage and especially the unemployed which results in us having to take to the streets and form our own opposition because we do not have an opposition in parliament anymore."

JUSTICE? II: (standing up): We don't have a platform here either. We were invited here and we were refused because of the demonstration outside. This is not a cross section of the working class, or ordinary people. Where are ordinary people?

JUSTICE? III: There are no homeless here ..(confusion)

JUSTICE? II: (advancing down the aisles) Where's the homeless, where's the beggars, Jack Straw attacks beggars ...

PAXMAN: (flummoxed) Look, chum..

JUSTICE? II: It's a rigged debate, it's all just rigged (strolls up and down the aisles)

PAXMAN: If you sit down you can take part in the debate

JUSTICE? III: We were excluded at the last minute because of a demonstration ..

HATTERSLEY: Those who live by the sword die by the sword. You (to PAXMAN) organised a meeting full of people who are going to make uncharacteristic protests about the leadership of the Labour Party and that (pointing to Justice? protesters) is what you must expect when you organise this sort of broadcast.

PAXMAN: There is a significant ...

JUSTICE? III: (now standing in front of the panel, interrupts) Why were we excluded at the last minute? We were excluded at the last minute because there was a demonstration in town.

JUSTICE? II: 31 people were arrested!

PAXMAN: We would like to include you in the discussion but frankly we can't when you're just shutting everybody else up..

JUSTICE? II: It's always the Labour Party that gets a chance to speak..

LIVINGSTONE: This is a discussion amongst Labour Party members. It's not a plot.

JUSTICE? II: (advancing up to the platform) It's on national television and who is excluded from national television? When's the last time you saw a beggar? When's the last time you saw a homeless person? When's the last time you saw a squeegee merchant under attack by your friends? When's the last time you saw these people on national television ... ?

LIVINGSTONE: Do yes really think you're helping your cause by this behaviour?

PAXMAN: (exasperated) Could you take your seat. Thanks very much. (giggles from the platform)

* Newsnight were last seen running around Brighton interviewing squeegee merchants for that all-important 'balance'!
PS: Dear Jeremy Paxman: Despite your denial on Tuesday's Newsnight we were indeed invited. Your researchers names are Pam and Noel. Nuff said?

NOSEY PARKERS!

ID cards are "detrimental to the rights of individual citizens" and should be opposed in "both principal and practice." And those aren't the words of a dysfunctional anarchist organisation, but the opinions of local government. They'd have come out with a blanket rejection to government proposals to introduce any ID card scheme in this country, and therefore given fingers to the Home Secretary Michael Howard.

The attack comes from all the three main local authority associations, all Labour controlled. But it contradicts the message coming from the front bench of the party, who would support a voluntary scheme. The local authorities, however, say that if a voluntary scheme were introduced "there would be substantial social pressure to carry a card. In effect, a voluntary scheme would lead to a de facto compulsory one very quickly." Nice of them to have the foresight.

Other problems that they have highlighted include the exacerbation of tensions that would occur between young people and ethnic minorities if such a scheme was introduced. They would have to prove their identity more than average, according to their report.

The so-called "smart card" system would allow information to be stored on an individual who would have no access to it themselves. As the SchNEWS reported in May, the Government Data Network is already in place, linking up to other major databases such as the Inland Revenue and Social Security, and information could be exchanged between these state agencies. This information, according to the local government, could be "inappropriate, inaccurate, and incapable of being checked." And, (flippin' 'eck, what's goin' on), there are further allies in the fight against ID cards in the right of the Conservative Party. They have said the cards would have "very serious implications for the traditional liberties of the British people." But before we all get too complacent, Electronic Data Systems are a huge multinational who are set to make a killing if the scheme goes through. They are already bidding for data processing schemes such as the DVLC licences. And we know the government ate big mates with big business.

INSIDE SchNEWS

Justin Wright was arrested and charged with assault at Windsor mass trespass in February. He is appealing for witnesses. He's 5 9", well built with a ruddy complexion, and was wearing a black bomber jacket/black jeans round and pork-pie type hat. He has longish mousey-coloured hair down to jaw line. He'd just put his arm round a women who was hysterical because her daughter had just been arrested. As he walked back to Justice's? double-decker was pounced on by police. This is urgent! Please ring 01273 699 424

SchNEWS In Brief

Come up North where the air is cold and the beer is cheap!! The No M66 camp needs loads of people to help out and join the protest at Daisy Nook, Manchester. Cheerful and positive vibes all round. Phone (0161) 371 5433.

*** The Police Complaints Authority have just published a review of the first weeks policy of live animal export demonstrations at Brightlingsea. As you would expect, it was a complete whitewash. Derek Day, one of the 14 people taken to court by animal exporter Roger Mills, who was claiming damages for his trade, was so incensed by the outcome that he told Chief Constable what he thought. A few moments later he tragically collapsed and died. Demonstrators later asked Mills that out of a mark of respect he stop live export lorries going thru the village for the day. Mills, speaking on radio, said "protestors have never shown me any respect, so I'm not gonna show them any" Derek Day's wife is still being sued.

*** Last weeks SchNEWS was told of Mike Roberts, who was refused bail by the police because they thought he was gonna abscond - on account of the fact that cuddly toys we're missing from his mantelpiece. Another Shoreham protestor was in the courts canteen, wearing a glove puppet, much to the amusement of everyone eating - apart from the two coppers who nicked Mike. The very next day Mr. Glove Puppet Man was nicked, his house searched and charged with "attempting to pervert the cause of justice."

* ** The first mass arrests under the CJA in the country have now come to court in Essex. They are being dealt with in a job lot trial this week and next. Thirty-three hunt sabs were arrested in violent clashes with the police - twenty-three charged with aggravated trespass. Ring Sabs association for more details, (0115) 959 0357.

HELP!!!! At 11am on October 18th the people of Holts Field in Swansea are due to be evicted and have their homes demolished - apparently out of spite. The wooden chalets they live in, built before the war, are classified in law as mobile homes, even though they have never been moved. The landlowner Tim Jones, has failed to get planning permission to build executive mansions on the site - but wants to trash the homes anyway. A spokesperson for The Land Is Ours told SchNEWS "45 people live in Holts Field, ranging from a baby to an 80 year old women. many have been therefor decades., There houses are tiny but beautifully built. The community is one of the last places in Britain which truly deserves that term - they all look after each other." They have sworn to resist the evictions - but can't do it by themselves, especially as most of them have no experience of direct action. So please get down there from the 18th on wards - with D-locks and possibly climbing gear. 01792 234027

BLACK MOON

The first people charged under the rave sections of the Criminal justice Act (CJA) are up in court next Thursday (12th October) - and are asking for your support. Members of the Black Moon soundsystem were nicked whilst preparing to play at 'the Mother' the big free festival of the summer in direct defiance of the CJA. Whilst alone in a field, they were surrounded by over 30 police officers backed up a helicopter, and arrested. Bruno of Black Moon told SchNEWS "If convicted we could face up to three months in prison and a £2,500 fine - as well as losing our £9 grand rig. All for simply wanting to throw a party in disused field, miles from anywhere. This is the despotic face of British justice." Turn up at Corby magistrates Court, Northamptonshire 10am and help fight for your right to party. 01298 27475

FRENCH NUKES DE-TEST-ABLE!

Britain once again failed to condemn French nuclear testing in the South Pacific, further fuelling reports that there is collusion with Chirac over sharing data from the blasts. The second test took place on Fangatuafa Atoll at Midnight last Sunday. The blast, at 110 Kilotonnes was five times stronger than the first test at Muroroa, where there are huge cracks in the structure of the Atoll caused by years of nuke tests. A secret military map uncovered this week reveals cracks up to 5 miles long in the island that scientific missions to Muroroa as long ago as 1980 believed could cause the disintegration of the atoll and the release of radioactivity. The 16-nation South Pacific Forum, which includes Australia, New Zealand the self-governing Island States, has cut off all communication with the French in protest at the tests. In Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, heavily reinforced security forces are preventing further rioting by anti-nuclear and independence demonstrators, by detaining locals daily and using TV footage of the demonstrations to identify rioters (sound familiar?) To date about 50 people have been nicked for rioting.

and Finally

THE FUCK-OFF SHOREHAM CASE: In May Dan Johnson was acquitted from the heinous charge of laughing at a police officer after Brighton magistrates ruled that the men from the Met had lied about him 'spitting' and 'screaming like a lunatic'. A woman close-by had remonstrated with police, (whose identification numbers were concealed). They (allegedly) gave her the classic line: "Don't fucking swear or you'll be arrested". She had then muttered: "This is ridiculous, it's a fucking joke!", whereupon she was promptly nicked for 'threatening and abusive behaviour'. Despite Dan's acquittal, despite the police swearing first, and despite the fact she is 5'3" and amongst 1,500 riot police she was found guilty this week and fined £50.

DISCLAIMER

The SchNEWS warns all readers not to attend any illegal gatherings or take part in any criminal activities. Always stay within the law. In fact please just sit in, watch TV and go on endless Xmas shopping sprees filling your home and lives with endless consumer crap. you will then feel content. Honest.

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NAME THAT (JELLY) BABY! Congrats to Caroline & Dan

THE BATTLE OF HYDE PARK

"At times the atmosphere was almost surreal: a fire-breather and a unicyclist entertained the crowds in the middle of one of Britain's most prestigious avenues. Lord Soper, the Labour peer, continued with his regular Sunday spot at Speakers Corner answering such questions as "How can we believe the scriptures?" and "Should Tony Adams be captaining England?" while in the background flaming litterbins were hauled across the road. A jogger, dressed in white top and shorts, entered from the top of the park To his left, 20,000 people were dancing; to his right 20,000 people were in running battles with mounted police. Like a symbol of ignorant England, he just carried on running as if nothing had happened "

A year ago on Sunday an estimated 100,000 people marched in London in opposition to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Bill, which was slowly but surely edging its way to the statute books. This hotch-potch of prejudices with something for everybody, brought together a rainbow coalition determined to resist it. A year on we look back at a day which has gone down in history as being one of the worst incidences of public disorder this century.

The nature of the coalition had meant that the previous two marches were more like carnivals than traditional demos, but this one, although bigger and more defiant, seemed to be heading towards boring speeches in Hyde Park when. The sound systems turned on to Park Lane and the crowd went wild.

Journalism is supposed to be the first draft of history. Here is the story of Hyde Park, October 9th, 1994, as told by the people who were there.

"The police formed a line behind the systems and ran in military formation to throw a ring around the other side of the road. More and more vans were arriving. People danced in ecstasy in front of the police lines. There was a tense ten minutes when anything could have happened. The mobile systems edged along the south side of the park to turn up towards Cumberland Gate. Protestors removed crash barriers which were blocking their path. All the while, the pedal powered Rinky-Dink sound system was keeping the partyheads happy. Down near Park Lane a dozen mounted police were inside the park. Why?"

"Hundreds of protestors had crowded around the mobile sound systems, which were inching their way up Park Lane, against the wishes of the cops. A line of police was put across the road to try to stop them, but this soon disintegrated by the sheer force of numbers of the demonstrators. Police vans were swamped, and a few people climbed onto the roof and started dancing - one with a banner "Stop trying to kill our culture". This was more like it!"

"One of the great things about rave music is that it winds up the old Bill something chronic"

But why did the police stop the sound systems from entering, creating a potential flash point? "If they'd kept the police profile to a minimum and allowed the sound systems through, there would have been no problem." As the New Statesman commented, "what was the police operation organised in defence of? Park regulations that forbid music and vehicles. It is not a criminal or arrestable offence to break these by laws. The maximum fine is £200. Yet this is what the Metropolitan Police insisted on enforcing even though some sort of public disorder was the inevitable consequence of their doing so."

"Senior officers were aware that agitators planned to start a rave in the park using the sound systems which accompanied the march... The business of allowing large mobile sound systems at political demonstrations is a serious new problem that we will have to deal with" - The Job, the Met's paper.

"A few minutes later, scores of riot police climbed over the fence and charged. From then on, a lot of the day becomes blurred with images and high emotions. For those who've seen the riot police in action before, their desire to beat the shit out of people at random wasn't a surprise. But for those who hadn't, it was immediately unbelievable, provocative and enraging. At the first baton charge, everyone ran instantly. But the crowd soon realised that we were vastly superior in numbers. Each attack became matched with a counter-attack. Every available object was flying at the cops - and they turned tail and ran. The mounted police were sent in but proved themselves next to useless .all police were chased out of the park within an hour. The people who chased them weren't 'anarchists' or 'animals', but ordinary protestors who had been made furious by the police... "

"The park is ours - a CJB-free zone for real, not just some publicity stunt!"

"There were all these speakers, like Arthur Scargill of the miners and one of the Birmingham 6, all saying how British justice had treated them. Speaker after speaker was telling us to defy the Act and the crowd was totally behind this. Then right after the last speaker the stewards who were all in the Coalition against the CJA and the Socialist Workers Party, pulled the plug and wouldn't let any music be played! It was unbelievable - defy the Act but don't play any music. There were people from Freedom Network and Justice? and all sorts going up and demanding the music get put on but the stewards weren't having any of it. But like we told the stewards, going along with stupid laws doesn't stop the police attacking you - it just shows them that you'll let them walk all over you."

"I have been at riots before - but this was the first time I have ever felt that violence by protestors was justified, as it was in self defence. I would never advocate the ethics of Class War and I think that their "keep it spiky" leaflet was pathetic, and bound to be picked up on by the media, but if you are charged by a line of baton-wielding police, for merely dancing in the street, you fight back. I still believe in Non-Violent direct action, but merely as a tactic that is best used in our present situation, and would never dispute peoples right to self-defence."

"We want rights and fairness, the media people want riots and ratings"

"By about nine o'clock a lot of people had gone home and the Park in the dark did not seem such a safe place. A police helicopter swooped down with a spotlight trained on the crowd and its own sound system broadcasting the message "Disperse now or force will be used" and the police were moving in on people. "It felt like I'd been transported to some future techno-totalitarian state, a science fiction landscape out of 2000 AD or Robocop"

But dispersing wasn't easy even for those who wanted to go home. Lines of riot cops blocked most of the roads out of the area and tube stations were closed. When a gap appeared in the police lines some people took the opportunity to pour up Oxford Street with horses charging up behind and police motorbikes running alongside. Shop windows were smashed as a last two fingers up to the cops, before dispersing.

AFTERMATH

After the riot the Met. Police ruled out an investigation into tactics used during the march and rejected criticism of their handling of the situation. Chief Superintendent Richard Cullen blamed anarchist groups for starting the rioting after a peaceful demonstration. "I am proud of the way my officers reacted in the face of extreme violence" commented Asst. commissioner Tony Speed.

"I was hit across the forehead with a truncheon. Two other policeman came from behind and swiped me across the legs and then the stomach with batons." Danny Penman journalist with the Independent. "

"I was pushed down on the floor, punched, hit across the back with a truncheon, and then three police were just kicking me and hitting me with truncheons. I was trying to get up, telling them I was a legal observer - the police said they didn't give a damn, and just started laying back into me. It took four people to get them off me. I was in agony. I've just had an operation on my head. I was knocked of my bike, and I've got metal plates in my skull. I told the police, and they just kept hitting me across the head. They were acting like hooligans." Vincent Seabrook, Coalition Steward

"I went to Hyde Park and left a different person"

"It was about 10pm I was standing just inside the park fence looking out at the giant fighting scrum that filled Park Lane trying to work out what to do when my boyfriend shouted 'run' and jumped over the fence. I glanced behind just in time to see a group of riot police jump on me. I don't recall how many. They threw me on the ground and started kicking me. I was panicking and shouting "I'm nonviolent, I'm nonviolent" They were shouting 'get out of the fucking park you slag' and similar verbal abuse. Then one pulled me onto my feet by my hair and two of them started marching me to the park gates. Another behind me kicked me so hard I couldn't walk, and so was dragged instead by the back of the neck."

"It would be foolish to pretend that all the demonstrators behaved like angels but our legal observers witnessed several unprovoked assaults by police on individuals. In one incident mounted police repeatedly charged into a crowd of people who were just standing or sitting around after the rally." It was difficult to ascertain what these mounted police were trying to achieve. A number of people were injured by these charges, conducted at a full gallop across the open spaces of the park, which infuriated a relatively peaceful, but increasingly angry crowd." Liberty

"The whole of the CJB is designed to stop us coming together as the clauses against ravers, travellers, hunt-sabs, anti-road protestors and squatters clearly show. It is meant to force us back into an alienated existence of work and consumption, where all we have to look forward is jobs in McDonalds and the latest TV soaps." "The sound-systems are now in the Park, surrounded by dancers. Someone's on the mike, chanting "Here to dance, not to fight!" Have some people done so much E they're entirely removed from reality? As if a charge of riot cops will stop short when they see how nice they're being!"

"It is on such fights that our chance to dance in the future depends!"

AFTERTHOUGHTS

"A rainbow coalition has been created that none of the main parties can call its own. Once united it is likely to have a political impact that outlasts controversy over this particular Bill. Yesterday's march marks the discontent of an increasingly vocal and well organised groupings of minorities that challenges the social conservatism now endemic across British politics." Independent editorial.

"Whatever 'liberties' we have today have not been given to us willingly. If today within certain limits demonstrate, form our own organisations, and publish our own newspapers and magazines, it is because in the past so many people defied the laws that banned them from doing these sort of things."

SchNEWS, PO Box 2600, Brighton, BN2 0EF, England
Phone: +44 (0)1273 685913
email: schnews@brighton.co.uk

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