Click Here For Bigger Image

SchNEWS

PDF Version - Download, Print, Copy and Distribute!

Story Links: Climate of Fear | Crap Arrest Of The Week | Totaly Un-Henged | Rave Heart | Inside Schnews | Party & Protest | Brecon The Law.| and finally...

CLIMATE OF FEAR

If nothing else, police attitudes at the climate camp indicated that the road to sustainability is likely to be a rocky one. If the camp's media collective seemed to be pumping out the message that a peaceful negotiated solution to climate change is just on the horizon, and airhead mass-media celebs confuse low-carbon living with the Atkins diet, the Metropolitan Police at least seem to realise that any genuine attempts to push our society towards a carbon-neutral and eco-friendly future will mean a total smashing of the status quo. And needless to say that's something the boys in blue and their bosses are none too keen on.

Almost as soon as the climate camp was established cops began to make their presence felt (see SchNEWS 599). A site invasion by the police on Monday morning enabled the presence of four officers permanently on site. However a later incursion spearheaded by the FIT team was repelled a day later as 150 campers surrounded the thirty cops and pushed them off site. For the first three days police blocked Sipson lane (the main access route to site) forcing everything to be brought onto site by hand.

Throughout the week campers were subjected to assaults, constant stops and searches, sexist comments, aggression and sarcasm from the Met. One element of police repression which attracted some mainstream media attention were the searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. In fact by Wednesday most stops were being conducted under Section 1 of PACE (this meant that the police claimed to suspect everyone of 'going equipped to cause criminal damage'). One man was stopped on the basis that he was thus 'equipped', even though two minutes before he was being kicked out of West Drayton police station with no possessions and wearing a paper suit! Stops and searches were carefully coordinated with a team of police photographers making sure that everyone stopped had their mugshot taken. People were forcibly and illegally detained until the happy snaps could be shot. Of course 99% of these searches produced no evidence of anything (see Crap Arrest of the Week).

Although most campers were aware that it is not a legal requirement to give your identity when stopped and searched, cops soon began to arrest people refusing to give their details for being in possession of their own bank/credit cards. These arrests didn't make it to the police station and were a way of extorting peoples identities out of them in the threatening confines of a police van. The object of the exercise was clearly intelligence gathering. FITwatch activists (www.fitwatch.blogspot.com) did their best to prevent photographers from getting a clean shot by holding banners in front of the cameras.

EMISSION ACCOMPLISHED

On the day of mass action the tension boiled over. Following a media stunt march round the site, protesters equipped with home-made shields forced their way out south from the back of the camp making a bee-line for BAA headquarters. Mounted police began trying to break up groups and riding down individuals. Gloriously one horse-borne copper fell off... twice! Seemingly caught by surprise the Met - in full public order gear - soon regrouped in the estate to the south. This time there were few cameras in evidence as squads of hate-spitting, baton-wielding Tactical Support Group masked up, removed their shoulder numbers and began laying into anyone they could find. Numerous activists received head injuries. One group were chased into residential back gardens, pinned down and punched in the face. One commented, "At least we held up the police so others could get to BAA. Anyway, I'd rather have a black eye than spend 12 hours in a cell."

** Hassle with the cops at the camp? Contact legalsupport@climatecamp.org.uk.

GLUE OR DIE

Apart from the day of mass action there were loads of small affinity group actions:

Thursday started with lock ons at Farnborough, Biggin Hill and Northolt airports - all private airports catering to super-rich binge flyers. Blockaded by two teams of climate activists, our elites found that their flying taxi services were running a little later than usual.

FRIDAY:

• The doors of six London travel agencies were chained shut and plastered with signs saying 'Closed, gone to the Climate Camp'
• Ten people occupied the office of private charter company XL which has a contract with the Home Office to deport rejected asylum seekers to the Congo.
• Out came the superglue as people stuck themselves to the front doors of the Department for Transport's London headquarters.

SATURDAY:

• Kids and parents blockade at the World Freight Centre in Heathrow, protesting at the damage caused by unnecessarily flying of food around the world.
• 30 campers brought a banner to a picket of striking cargo workers at the Nippon Express depot.
• 50 people occupied Carmel Agrexco's Heathrow warehouse in Hayes, where produce is air freighted in from territories occupied by Israel. Highlighting the issues of food miles and the unjust and unlawful distribution of natural resources in the Middle East, activists kept up the pressure on Agrexco for three hours before six people were arrested, four on suspicion of burglary.

SUNDAY:

• The day kicked off with three teenage girls dropping a banner reading 'Make Planes History' from the roof of Heathrow Business Academy, close to BAA headquarters.
• Carbon offset companies were occupied by protesters dressed as red herrings with fifteen people occupying the offices of Climate Care in Oxford, and ten more leafleting the offices of the Carbon Neutral Company in London.
• Five protesters locked on to concrete barrels outside Sizewell A and B nuclear power stations, Suffolk.
• Eighteen occupied the office of the owners of Leeds Bradford airport, Bridgepoint Capital.
• Later on in the evening, the BA World Cargo depot was blockaded for about four and a half hours by eight protesters locked to each other.

CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK

For being on the chain gang...
Climate camp was a fine week for any connoisseur of police misbehaviour but this arrest grabbed the attention of the SchNEWS crew... One hapless camper was arrested during a stop and search for possession of a key-chain! Apparently his 18 inch long metal chain could be used 'to cause criminal damage'. Police have refused to be fobbed off and are now investigating his alleged links to al Key-eda.

TOTALLY UN-HENGED

The battle to save the Hill Of Tara from a motorway continues. Carving a path of destruction through one of the most important archaeological areas in Europe, several ancient buildings and burial grounds have been already been destroyed despite the discovery of more relics during excavations (see SchNEWS 597, 585). The 8,000 year old henge discovered recently at Lismullen was trashed after a rushed archaeological effort to catalogue it. There is protest camp at the site, and direct action continues to fight it every step of the way.

Last Thursday a group of twelve took a walk along the route, and managed to play hide and seek with security and do some digger diving. After blockading a gate at Collierstown, they moved onto a digger preventing it from moving. With three on the roof, they sung and banged on the roof until the driver got out. After half an hour they were gone, avoiding the Gardai (police), when they returned to the first gate and rushed onto a site with four diggers and other trucks working. Although Health & Safety laws require the machines to be turned off in this situation, some carried on, while other drivers were amicable. Many workers and Gardai themselves have said they don't want the road to go through either.

Later that day there were more hi-jinks as protesters moved around several work sites, evading security and interrupting digging work. At one point a woman separated from the group was surrounded by thirteen security intent on holding her until the cops arrived - but when informed them said that she wouldn't move, that the road was illegal under EU laws and that she was protecting land and ancestors, the security just let her go.

On Friday there was more digger diving when the Roestown site was hit with 25 protesters spreading out over the site occupying eight diggers and over fifteen other machines for an hour and a half; again without arrests. This followed a blockade of the gates at the Lismullen Henge as National Road Authority-sponsored lackey archaeologists arrived at the site. Police seem reluctant to arrest to avoid media coverage of the protests.

What sites are remaining are under imminent threat and the protest camps are urging more people to get down there. The camps also need to usual tat - tents, tarps, food, CB radios, climbing harnesses, technical support, donations etc.

* To get to the camp take a bus from Dublin to Tara Cross, 20-25 minute walk from the Tara Vigil Camp. For more call Vigil Camp 00353(0) 861758557, Rath Lugh Action camp 00353( 0) 867372983 Or see www.tarapixie.net www.savetara.com www.tarawatch.org

RAVE HEART

Angry party-goers laid siege to a police station last week in Great Yarmouth. It all kicked off after police seizure of a soundsystem at a warehouse on the Harfrey industrial estate. After the killjoys confiscated the rig some revellers turned riotous and attacked Great Yarmouth nick in an attempt to liberate their tunes. Put on the defensive, but keen to ensure that no-one had unlicensed fun, 100 cops responded by dishing out liberal amounts of CS spray and battering heads left, right and center. "This was by far the worst amount of police brutality I have seen" said one party-goer. "The fact that they use their shields as weapons is appalling - I saw them smash a girl's car windows and drag her out by her hair - she was terrified."

With the free-festival scene effectively squashed under the Tories, Neo-Labour have turned their sights on non-profit events. New licensing laws mean more money has to be spent on hired goon security who must now come with certificates to prove their respectability. Regulations also mean that organisers need a higher blockhead to punter ratio, raising the cash stakes even more.

And that's without mentioning the Al-Qaeda threat - if you're thinking about putting on an event you now need written plans to show how you would deal with a bunch of terrorists blowing up the DJ stand. This year the Big Green Gathering saw its security costs rise to £200,000 - up from 40 grand in 2005. A serious blow to this and other festivals, calling into question their future survival. It seems UK plc is more than happy to embrace the pierced masses as long as they've paid handsomely for the ticket, the event is heavily policed and comes laden with lucrative sponsorship deals.

At the Glastonbury 'Make Poverty History' moment thousands of people held hands in unity against poverty by standing under an advert for the Orange mobile phone network! Although the festival organisers argue that the ticket price of the £145 (plus fees) just about covers the cost of running the event - sponsorship and pitch rental deals are huge. Some reckon the festival is worth 20 million nicker a year. Mean Fiddler Holdings plc - the company with an increasingly large stake in Glasto managed to turn an £8.3m loss in 2002 into a £2.7m profit in 2004 - the year it took a 32% stake. Nice little earner.

Then again - why bother with the licence? Despite the confiscation of a sound system and resulting stand off with cops in Norfolk last weekend, the free party scene is having a bit of a well needed revival. Many more events have gone ahead trouble-free, reversing recent declines in night time sub cultural activity. Dust off yer dancing shoes and have a look at www.squatjuice.com and www.urban75.com to see what's coming up…

Inside SchNEWS

Despite Gordon Brown recently hinting about maybe possibly rethinking some of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act restrictions on the right to protest, none of his populist liberty soundbiting has managed to turn into anything real. Under SOCPA if you want to run a demo near parliament you've got to ask police persmission.

Milan Rai, the first person to be convicted under the SOCPA for "organising an unauthorised demonstration" in the 1km no-go zone around Parliament Square (See SchNEWS 583) was sentenced this week to 14 days imprisonment. Failing to cough up (on principle - not necessarily cos he was broke or forgetful) the £600 levied in various court room shambles has now left Milan banged up in Wandsworth prison for a fortnight. See www.parliamentprotest.org.uk

PARTY & PROTEST

August: 31 - No Borders Benefit Gig, for the upcoming Gatwick No Borders camp (see below) With live acoustic sets and DJ, 7.30pm-midnight, RampART Social Centre, 15-17 Rampart St, London, E1 (Tube - Whitechapel) £5/£3/free asylum seekers. www.noborders.org.uk

31 - Critical Mass - The peddle powered direct action where cyclists retake the road en-masse. Events are held in cities around the world, including several in the UK - for list see www.schnews.org.uk/pap/index.htm#crit-mass

September: 9 - Urban Green Fair - Brockwell Park, Brixton. Music, cafés, kids' zone, speakers, poets, workshops, DJs, craft and campaign stalls, all powered by renewable energy. www.urbangreenfair.org.uk

11 - Disarm DSEi - a day of actions against the Defence Systems & Equipment International (DSEi), the arms sales expo held every other year at East London's ExCel Centre. www.dsei.org

19-24 - Gatwick area No Borders Camp. A space to share information, skills, knowledge and experiences, and to plan actions together against the system of border controls. g-anbc2007@riseup.net http://noborders.org.uk

23 - Big name benefit gig to raise money for court costs to get the Serious Fraud Office to investigate BAE Systems bribes in Saudi arms deals, with Mark Thomas, Russell Brand, Omid Djalili and others. Hammersmith Apollo. Call Ticketmaster (0870 606 3400)

Brecon The Law

The Brecon Beacons gas pipeline works were sabotaged during a night of covert action this week. It's the latest effort in the campaign to fight the building of a high pressure gas pipeline across southern Wales (see SchNEWS 593 and 576). A small crew managed to bypass security and equipped with just a wrecking bar were able to immobilise eleven earth working machines including tippers and excavators, and hole the pipeline itself in several places. Protesters badly damaged engines and hydraulics on the machines. Check www.fightthepipe.co.uk for background.

...and finally...

THERE'S NOWT AS QUEER AS VÖLK: Here's a tip for our far-right readers - it might not be best to give your homophobic opinions a public airing on the hottest day in the gay calendar - Brighton Pride. While you might see big gangs of skinheads in cherry red doc martens - look again and you'll see that they're holding hands.

Undeterred by common sense, Sid "I'm the only Nazi in the village" Williamson of the National Front, along with three kids, six 'fighting fit men', two pensioners and a dog, held a demo on the route of the Pride Parade. Holding a banner saying "Bring back Clause 28" in the middle of a 150,000 strong march, the odds were stacked against them.

Clearly expecting an easy fight with a bunch of fairies, the NF got the pink pounding they deserved. Afterwards Stormtrooper Sid's been reduced to moaning on far-right hate sites like Stormfront about how they only had "two very disinterested coppers" to protect them. Sid is particularly aggrieved that so few brothers had joined in the fight for race and nation, exposing him to copping a black eye and broken glasses after someone had lobbed a bottle of pop his way (even whinging that it had not been opened!). "We will not forget this treatment by the reds or the homosexuals" he blusters, "Turn up next year nationalist comrades and don't leave us in this sh*t ever again!"

Anyone interested in supporting Suicidal Sid can no doubt join him on his 72 hour one-man white supremacist action at this week's Notting Hill Carnival...

Disclaimer

SchNEWS warns all readers we are armed only with cynicism, puns, and peer-review-free propaganda. Honest!

SchMOVIES

Download free short films produced by SchNEWS, or order a copy of 'V For Video Activist, the new SchMOVIES 2006 DVD Collection only £6 incl. p&p. Click here for more info

SchNEWS Annuals

OUT NOW!!! 'SCHNEWS AT TEN' - A Decade of Party & Protest - £5 inc p&p (within UK)

Peace de Resistance - issues 351-401. £5 inc p&p

SchNEWS of the World - issues 300 - 250. £4 inc p&p.

SchNEWS and SQUALL’s YEARBOOK 2001. £4 inc p&p.

The SchQUALL book Sold out - Sorry

SchNEWS Survival Guide Sold out - Sorry

SchNEWS Annual issues Sold out - Sorry

SchNEWS, c/o Community Base, 113 Queens Rd, Brighton, BN1 3XG, England
Phone: +44 (0)1273 685913
email: schnews@brighton.co.uk

@nti copyright - information for action - copy and distribute!