London Friday Oct 15. A party on the circle line was announced for this
evening. 200 people at "Beyond ESF", including Yomango, people from the
nordic anti-capitalist network and a little samba-band, decided to
participate.
They went to 7-sisters tubestation, having a bit of a pre-party, and talking
to other passengers about the importance of public services. leaflets about
the idea of "free transport for all". People on the train were very
friendly. The activists even "convinced some guy" that he was rich and
should pay more taxes.
>From 7-Sisters, the group went on to Victoria station. They had "a little
beer", warming up for the party on the tube, then planned to change at
Victoria station to join the circle line at 8.30.
When they got out of the train and onto the platform, the next train didn't
start moving. Then a polite announcement was made: Victoria tube station was
to be closed “due to a security threat”, people were asked to leave, whoever
was staying behind would be arrested.
The partypeople decided to leave Victoria station in smaller groups. The
sambaband started playing. An informal roving reclaim the streets party
started moving down the main street. Police started gathering around them,
then gradually put on sirens. The group was split. One part was pushed
towards a small alleyway, which happened to be close to a police station –
where the police started to “close the kettle”. At around 11.30pm,
individuals were allowed to leave (some of them gave this report to the
indymedia center).
Another group started running. Police run after them. the group tried to get
back to the alleyway with the police station. But they were not allowed to.
It was reported that around midnight that the train station was closed due
to a second emergency, because a suspect bag was found.