Home | 16th August 1996 | Issue 86

WAKE UP! WAKE UP! IT'S YOU'RE NICKED SON...

SchNEWS
Download Scan Version - Front Page | Back Page

OUT OF (law &)ORDER

Are we getting naughtier? Paranoid? Or are the screws gettin' tighter? Multinationals pollute and exploit for all they're worth and, of course, it's all perfectly legal. But try to organise a picnic on a common or go to such a hardcore events as The Big Green Gathering and you are faced with over-the-top policing paid for with their ever-expanding budget. Here's a few recent examples of just how ridiculous things are getting...

SMOKEY BEAR'S PICNIC, PORTSMOUTH

Last Sunday's Smokey Bears Picnic in Portsmouth was to have been a day of chilling out on the common as a two fingers to the ridiculous laws around cannabis. Instead it was yet another case of over-the-top police operations as part of Portsmouth's new 'high visibility' policing techniques.

The event had been held for the previous two years without any trouble. Despite this the police warned 'There could be a running battle on the common!' and put pressure on the Labour City Council to stop the event. They claimed they had intelligence that 5,000 people planned to attend the picnic and turn it into an illegal rave on the common.

A local Labour councilor told SchNEWS "Police were worried about 'outside agitators', but we weren't going to ban it. People have every right to meet on the common as it is public land. If people are prepared to protest in a peaceful way, that's fine."The police of course don't listen to silly old elected councilors and they carried on regardless. 80 of them ringed the common with transit vans, a mobile cell unit, plain clothes, unmarked cars and motorcycle cops. That's not mentioning the CCTV cameras that cover the whole area as well as more cops in reserve!

As the councillor put it, "The police presence was total overkill."

Around 200 people turned up on the day despite the awful weather and - as one of the organisers said - the police operation was simply an "exercise in intimidation". SchNEWS has uncovered some examples of dastardly criminal activity on the day: *Setting up a pasting table. A Police van screeched up to a table and out jumped five cops led by a sergeant who said it was contrary to council by-laws to erect any structure. As was pointed out to the Inspector, council bylaws are not an arrestable offence, so do they not need 80 coppers to enforce council bylaws.

* Playing your ghettoblaster on the common - a man was threatened with arrest under the Criminal Justice Act! Organisers have promised they'll be back next year and our friendly councillor added "If the organisers make a formal application to hold the event next year there is every chance of this being successful..

BIG GREEN GATHERING

At the recent gathering in Wiltshire cops set up a mobile unit, strip searching and carrying out intimate body searches - just the sort of thing to put you in the mood for a festival. The policing costs for the Big Green Gathering were £25,000. Four what? Wiltshire police told the Warminster Journal that the 40 naked 'nutters' constituted 'what could have been a very nasty public order situation' . (what, we ask, could the cops be struck with?). The Chief Cop told the nudists that the searches were conducted due to 'strip searching being part of the contract for the Gathering so it could go ahead legally'. They were doing it cos they could... ! They can and they will use humiliation and intimidation tactics... Bless em..

CRAP ARREST OF THE WEEK

For baring all on the beach...four men were nicked on a remote beach in Northumberland for getting their kit off while doing a spot of sunbathing... I'm sure if they want to carryon with such behaviour the 'I'm taking all my clothes off in protest against cars/banks/ stripsearching' people will welcome the nudists with open arms.

MAIDSTONE RIVER FESTIVAL

Following a complaint about noise shortly after midnight, three cops were sent to ask organisers to turn the music off. An eyewitness told SchNEWS,"As they came to shut it down, someone moonied at them, a few bottles was thrown then all hell broke loose. Reinforcements were called and before we knew it, the site was crawling with police.

Police piled in with riot shields and batons. Detective Alan Sawyer told the local newspaper "One of the bottles was thrown so hard that it embedded itself in the side of a police van" SchNEWS asks how the hell does a glass bottle embed itself in a vehicle?

Disturbances carried on for the next two bows and nine people were eventually arrested for various offences. Partygoers included such well known ups of revolutionaries as businessman and teachers - many of whom have accused the cops of a "total over-reaction." Kent Police: surely not?

BRIGHTON

Two weeks ago a party near Brighton was broken up after apparent complaints for noise, so the police decided too do this with a nice quiet... helicopter. Another example (as if we needed it) that the country's resources are being spent wisely by the perfectly sane People in Blue. SchNEWS rang Sussex Police on the use of the helicopter - and they told us 'it just happened to be passing'!

Where will it all end? Will everyone be assigned their own personal cop in order o keep them in order? This begs another frequently uttered question: "Who will police the police?"

RECLAIM THE TRUTH

Reclaim the Streets continue to stall under attack following their recent massive street party on the M41, bike rides through London in support of the tube workers and an occupation of London Underground's HQ. First they get their office raided sand activists arrested. Now it's silly story time in London's Evening Standard about - guess what! - the group being taken over by a "lunatic fringe".

"The anti-roads campaign Reclaim the Streets is in danger of being hijacked by anarchist lawbreakers, transport campaigners warned yesterday" begins a two page spread, with Transport. 2000, the London Cycling Campaign and Green Party all lining up to condemn the highly successful and popular occupation. Only one problem - none of them did. Lynn Sloman of Transport 2000, 'quoted' in the piece, told SchNEWS. "It's just outrageous, a complete misrepresentation. We didn't condemn the protest at all''.

The London Cycling Campaign's reaction was that "non-violent direct action plays a major role in highlighting problems" The Green Party simply said, ''Reclaim the Streets are highlighting the appalling problems caused by cars clogging up our cities and the underfunding of public transport. We applaud non-violent direct actions like this."

So if other groups aren't condemning RTS, why an article saying they are? Your usual gutter press nonsense perhaps? Well maybe, except that given RTS 's recent successes and police attacks on the group it smells more like there's a pretty organised campaign to divide and destroy support for the group. Misinformation, getting groups to condemn each other, encouraging splits ("anarchist lawbreakers" against ordinary, decent "transport campaigners") are well-worn tactics when it corner to trying to portray successful, growing campaigns as bickering, ineffective groups.

Expect more of this sort of thing - but don't expect it to work. As an RTS spokesperson told SchNEWS, "We can often judge our success or how much we manage to piss off the Tory press. Our actions will go on to speak for themselves, and as for 'infiltration', it's diverse solidarity by any other name!"

* Brighton's Reclaim the Streets - IndepenDANCEday - is on for Saturday 4th Aug Meet 1pm Churchill Square. This RTS theme is. Beach Party!

RECLAIM THE VALLEY II

Wed 28th August - Sun 1st September

"There is no shame in failure - only in never having tried." Tyrone O'Sullivan, Tower Colliery spokesperson.

Spot the bullshit - Last week the last steep mine colliery in North Wales was given its closure orders cos like the man Heseltine said 'there's just no demand' for coal right? So what's with all this opencast coal mining business happening all over Wales? Like Selar - planned to be 800 acres, the biggest hole in Europe and visible on the moon - or Brynhenllys- a mere 770 acres. Six valleys in the South Wales area will be affected - thousands of acres of mainly greenfield sites, with some villages totally surrounded by opencast sites. Eric from Wales Against OpenCast told SchNEWS: "Large parts of our heritage and inheritance are going to be destroyed unless we do something."

And have you heard the one about Tower Colliery? The last deep mine in South vales was brought out by the workers when it was threatened with closure, and is now a workers co-op turning over a healthy profit. Workers at the threatened Point of Ayr in North Wales are looking at the Tower example with a view to buying their pit.

Protest camps against some of the opencast monsters have been established at Nant Helen (site mobile number 0468 732829 after 7pm at 01792 475882) and Selar (on an island )which has tripods on the land a Celtic style stiled village growing in the water)

*A new application is in for opencasting on the extension for the Brynhenllys site, further into the Brecon Beacons National Park involving the destruction of a medieval village; a standing stone and stone circles. Council planning meeting on 20th September - should be eventful.

So if you're coming back from the Harvest Fayre and fancy a spot of party and protest why not head down towards the valleys for a week of fun and frolics...

MONASTERY MADNESS

A Manchester based group celled the `The Monastery Campaign' moved into a derelict Victorian monastery with the intention of renovating the building, by hand if necessary. This was done quietly with no media blitz with the 'intention of securing the building and tidying it up before allowing the press to enter. Three weeks later they were evicted and living in the car park. Under Sheriff Wilson arrived only 16 hours after the eviction notice was received. Since then, the local press and councilors are falling over themselves to support the campaign to do something with the budding. The council and owners are now 'actively seeking' a buyer on negotiable terms. The campaign told SchNEWS "This means finding anyone who wants it except us, but that's a lot better than nothing at all".

SchNEWS IN BRIEF

BAA McArthur Glenn have been given planning permission to build an out of town shopping centre on wildlife site in York. Yorkleaf organising one day phone blockade Tuesday 20th Aug - speak to Gary Bond 0171 799 8204 : More info on campaign 0831 586 938

*** SWELL FM is having a money recuperating barbercue on the terrace of the Escape Club this coming Monday 19thAug 5- 10pm .

*** Flim Flam Festival at Newbury 25-30 August Sun Art Bypass; Lanten Procession Mon Root Walk and Pick-Nik Tue-Fri Sir George Young Site Invasion, digger dancing + more 01635 550 552.

BRITAIN? RACIST? SURELY NOT!

It's official - Britain's as racist as ever.' A recent report into racism in the criminal justice system has found that black people are, strangely enough, far less likely to be dispensing British 'justice', than to be on the receiving end of it. Here's how it works. You start off being stopped and searched (5 times more likely if you're black) and end up in court. You're unlikely to get a black solicitor (1.3% are black) and even less likely to get a black judge (1 per cent). You are, however, quite likely to end up in prison: blacks make up 17% of the prison population, up from 14% over the last seven years, This figure isn't quite matched by the number of black screws (2.4%) or those of governor grade (0.5%). Yes, a definite pattern emerging here... Still, look on the bright side. Things are definitely improving with those well known equal opportunity employers, the police. There has been a startling increase in police officers from ethnic minorities over the last seven years - up faro 1.06% to 1.75% of the total.

Police got away with murder again (literally) last week as an inquest passed a verdict of 'misadventure', which basically means accidental death, on Brian Douglas, the first person to be killed by police using the lethal American style 22" extendable baton. Douglas was stopped by the police last May while driving in South London in a 'routine' stop (Brian was black). During this routine racism Brian sustained eight blows to the top of his head, spent 15 hours in a police cell and went into a coma. He died in hospital five days later.

PC Tuffey, the cop who killed Brian, said he used the new baton in 'self-defence' aiming a single blow at Douglas's upper arm 'slipped' and hit his neck! Despite eye witness evidence that the police had beaten Brian to death, and evidence from 3 separate pathologists that Brian had received 8 blows to the top of his head from this 'slip'. No police officers are to face any charges. After the verdict, over 100 people showed their disgust at this whitewash by blockading Brixton police station and the main road outside. The police claim that Tuffey was traumatised by his experience - "I'll give him traumatised. We will fight for Justice" said Brian's sister: Family and supporters are planning to blockade Balham High Street this Saturday and trying to raise money for a private prosecution against the police. We'll keep you posted....

* In the same week as the above verdict, an announcement was made that no officers will be charged for the death of Shiji Lapite. Shiji was a Nigerian asylum seeker who died from asphyxiation as a result of being put in a neck hold by a policeman from Stoke Newington when arrested in Dec 94 . In January the jury reached a verdict of unlawful killing, although the Crown Prosecution Service said that there was insufficient evidence for proceedings. Lapite suffered 45 separate injuries and a fractured voice box - another accidental slip by our Boys in Blue while trying to gently restrain someone?

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 shopping sprees filling your house and lives with endless consumer crap.... you will then feel content. Honest.

Subscribe! Keep SchNEWS free! Just send 1st class stamps (eg 20 for 20 issues) or donations (payable to Justice?) Mark 'Original' if you plan to copy: SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2600 Brighton East Sussex BN2 2DX. SchNEWS is free to prisoners tel/fax: (01273) 685913. email:kierent@netresult.co.uk e-SchNEWS: http://www.cbuzz.co.uk

CRITICAL MASS BENEFIT GIG at The Beachcomber - Thurs 22nd Aug

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

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