and make next months Critical Mass three times the size. Official complaints should also be made and followed up. An additional complaint should be made about their obstructing the complaints process as this is extremely serious.

What the police told you about the complaint was a lie and grounds for a complaint in itself. It would not have been the officer out on duty - that's just garbage. The person who should have taken the complaint should be of rank of Inspector.

Please, please do put in a complaint and also against the officer who clearly lied to you. Otherwise they are going to continue to fob people off and get away with brutality. A stand must be taken.

For more info on complaining see  http://www.freebeagles.org/articles/suing_pca.html#pca

Isn't there a theme developing here?

Im sure people in london. brum, brighton and manc' CM have all had police cctv and agro directed against them.

It does seem slightly worrying that the polis is starting to target Critical Mass - the Leeds arrests coming so quickly after a rider with a bicycle mounted soundsystem was hassled by a copper in London under SOCPA legislation at the last ride in the Capital.

York's 2nd Critical Mass is this Friday, it will be interesting to see if it invites any kind of repression - I intend to come through to Leeds for your next ride in an act of solidarity, all are invited to York next Friday.

"Who's street, OUR street!"

Peace

B

Hello all,

A slight tangent, but can someone explain the purpose of the timing of critical mass events? I used to attend them in London in the mid 90s when upto a 1,000 people used to come, but I stopped going primarily as the timing of them (Friday evening) seemed to be designed to do nothing except piss off people who were already tired and stressed and trying to get home from work.

Don't get me wrong, I think they are great events for all sorts of reasons, but why the fuck have them at at that time of the day/week? It just seems stupid and designed to alienate people for no good reason. Monday morning, disrupting people going to work, giving them good excuses to be late....

Any ideas, justifications?

This is purely my personal point of view which is probably not shared by many.

Firstly, to hold the mass at anytime during working hours would exclude lots of people. Holding it before work during a weekday would exclude people coming by train with their bikes, because of rush hour bans on bikes. I assume weekends are out of the question.

Now I like Friday evenings for the following reason, it is a time when many motorists converge on the capital purely in pursuit of pleasure, leaving their cars parked in cycle lanes and generally causing massive congestion and pollution. What better time for cyclists to be assertive and it is only once a month after all?

hey a person the purpose of critical mass is different for everyone that goes on it.but here are some reasons we put on our flyers in manchestie:

We cycle round the city to celebrate the bicycle:

It's for anyone that rides a bike;
Its a celebration of getting round the city without polluting it;
Its about every journey being an adventure instead of just sitting on a
boring bus or in a stressful car;
Its about cyclists riding together to demand more respect from other road
users;
Its a way to meet other cyclistas;

also at that time on friday hundreds of cities around the world do the same thing...all get together for critical mass. its beautiful to know that as you ride with your mates through your own city that all around the world thousands of people are doing the same thing..

here's some more info about cm

What Is CM?
Critical Mass is often described as an 'unorganised coincidence'. It
happens when a lot of cyclists happen to be in the same place at the same
time and decide to cycle the same way together for a while. Very often,
those taking part enjoy it so much that they decide to get together at the
same place and time the next month and the month after and so on, and to
get other cyclists to join as well. Manchester Critical Mass has been
around for years, and has sometimes had over 200 or more people attending.
In the summer it usually get quite large, and takes on a more carnival
atmosphere.


:: What Happens On CM?
Each one is different and they follow no set route, with the direction
being spontaneously chosen as people cycle along. Anyone is free to join
or leave the ride as it pedals along.
The ride lasts usually around a couple of hours (depending on the
weather!) and usually ends in a fun event(ranging from pub, to social
centre to park!) Most of all, they are peaceful, safe and fun!

Critical mass can be used as a good form of protest as well, ;Bikes not
Bombs' ran in america throughout the iraq war, and im manchester when the
war started a critical mass managed to block sdome petrol stations and
cause some havoc. But usually its very peaceful


:: Who Can Come On CM?
Critical mass is for absolutely everyone and anyone! It transcends any
barriers of colour, gender, class, age, political alignment, species,
ability, feeling of identity, smell, look, scene or culture. All this
means that YOU would be very welcome on critical mass
One important thing to remember is that to come on critical mass you don't
have to adhere to any type of political ideology. You don't have to belong
to any sad political party or dogmatic ideology! You can just be yourself.
As it isn't organised by anyone group of people critical mass attracts all
sorts of beliefs and schools of thought. It can be said that critical mass
is an apolitical event, although many people believe that there is
politics in everything, in the traditional sense of the word critical mass
is definitely not political!
Another thing is that IT'S NOT JUST FOR BIKES! Skateboards, roller blades,
wheelchairs, pogo sticks - in fact any form of non-motorised,
non-polluting is very welcome! In the past people have brought all sorts
of thing's to mass, from bikes with wings to circular, 8 person recumbent!
So be imaginative.
Critical mass aims to include as many people as possible, if you are at
all worried that you won't "fit in", share your thoughts on the discussion
list and test the waters.


:: What Are The Aims Of CM?
There is no single aim of CM, although there is a shared wish to see less
car-dominated cities and more people cycling. There are as many aims of CM
as there are participants. Each individual comes there with his or her own
idea of what it's about, and the sum of this makes up the mass. Some of
the aims may be:
* To raise the profile of cycling in towns and cities,
* Campaigning for better provision for cyclists,
* Creating a car-free space in the centre of our cities,
* To raise awareness about pollution and other problems caused by cars,
* Having fun,
* Meeting friends,
* Getting our own back at the motorists,
* To demonstrate opposition to car culture,
* To meet that cool person you met last month,
* To cause disruption,
* To meet new friends,
* To show off your new bike,
* To ogle other people's bikes,
* To feel good about being safe on a bike on roads which are usually
dangerous,
* To feel reassured that there are hundreds of other active cyclists,
* To create a vision and experience of a possible future,
* To meet friends and go for a beer later.
Some things may feature more strongly than others, but any combination of
the aims above and lots of others can be reason enough for anyone to come
to CM.


:: Who Are The Organisers?
A favorite question of authoritarina minded individuals (read cops,
journalists etc.)
Nobody organises CM in the sense that they control the event - what
happens at the ride is up to all the individuals. However, as with any
project, some individuals are usually more involved than others, for
example in printing and distributing leaflets and other publicity.
However, they only do the work, and don't have any authority over anybody
else - their only power is to make suggestions.
The mass is most successful if everyone gets involved and does these
things of their own accord - it takes the pressure off the few and makes
CM more of the spontaneous event it is meant to be.


:: Is It Legal?
In theory, CM is nothing different from a bunch of cyclists taking a
slightly convoluted way home from work, or just cruising around the
streets, all of which is perfectly legal. Section 209 of the Highway Code
advices cyclists to not ride more than two abreast, and to ride in single
file on narrow roads when in traffic. However, this advice does not have
force of law, and the whole section is titled 'Safe riding' - presumably
it would be acceptable to ride more than two abreast where this is safer.
It is also acceptable to ride more than two abreast when overtaking.


Logically - though I don't know what a court would think - if you are
moving at the same speed as the car in front of you or your group then you
could not reasonably be considered to be causing any delay to the car
behind. And, in London, as the average rush hour speed has been proved to
be less that 2mph, it wouldn't been to hard to go faster that motorised
traffic.
However, it is worth remembering, the whole thing about the police is -
they don't actually need a reason to do something. Therefore they can
break up Critical Mass and stop it happening if they want to - they don't
need a reason. Most people seem to forget that the police are an
unchallenged force in society, they get away with murder.

There is a huge list of reasons the police would give for breaking up a CM
- from obstruction to breaching the peace, what's the best to remember is
that if they want to - they will and only we can stop them getting away
with it.
The best way of preventing from things happening with the police is to
look out for one another and act as group, instead of as individuals. If
one person provokes the police and they get angry with her / him, we
should stick up for that individual, although what they have done might
have been stupid, we never let a friend get arrested.

Arrests on Manchester CM's are very rare, if they do take place the most
obvious charge would be obstruction, which carries a maximum of a £1000
fine (very very rare!) and no prison sentence. So there isn't much to
worry about :)


:: Why Are You Blocking Traffic?
Critical Mass participants don't block the traffic - we are the traffic!
Cyclists are just as much traffic and have just as much right to be on the
roads and travel at their own speed as anyone else. Moreover, cars clog up
the streets twice a day 29 days a month, so a lot of cyclists doing the
same on a limited scale once a month cannot be a great source of
complaint. Indeed, Critical Mass often finds itself held up by the traffic
jam caused by motorists going about their 'usual' business.


On a more positive note, although some people may want to block the rest
of the traffic for the sake of it or to get their own back at motorists,
for most slowing up some traffic is incidental to their primary aim of
raising the profile of cycling, having fun or creating a car-free space.
This cannot be done without blocking out cars from the mass.

What Critical Mass does achieve, is to make people take notice of cyclists
as road users. If it is good-humoured and not aggressive, it can put
cycling and transport issues on the agenda where they would otherwise be
ignored.
Some degree of confrontation may be perceived as necessary. Some say that
the whole point of CM is confrontation. Not too inflammatory, not at all
violent, but the whole point of CM is to make completely clear the fact
that the bike is a force that can replace the car as a viable means of
transport. The CM as a demonstration is not going to make many people
think unless it also puts them out, hence confrontation is utterly
necessary.

On the other hand, an over-confrontational attitude is likely to lead to
even more hostility towards cyclists. It is particularly pointless to
cycle slowly on a two- or three-lane dual carriageway when you only have
the numbers to fill one lane (15-30 people).