Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile Version | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Photos from police raid at Rampart

Janos | 02.04.2009 15:25 | G20 London Summit

In an obvious attempt to de-escalate the situation after the events of yesterday, police aggressively raided Rampart today.

How they got in
How they got in


Somebody being led away under arrest
Somebody being led away under arrest

"evidence"
"evidence"

The FIT doing research work
The FIT doing research work


Legal observer at work
Legal observer at work

People being searched outside
People being searched outside

The FIT having a good day...
The FIT having a good day...


They came through the roof, smashing their way in and assaulting everybody who was inside. Several people were arrested, including two who had been injured in the raid. Taser guns were aimed at people, while the police harassed and searched everybody who was on the outside.

Janos

Additions

Rampart street raid

06.04.2009 20:37

I was one of the people inside the Rampart St building when it was raided. At the time we were expecting maybe some uniformed police to enter and try to evict everyone but i was shocked to see riot police breaking down the door without ever even a knock at the door. At the time I was standing on the stairs and as such if i moved up the stairs i figured they would have thought i was running away and if i moved down the stairs i thought they would have thought i was going to attack them, so instead i stood at the back of the stairs so as not to block it and put my hands up. The first officer ran by me, the second ran up, grabbed me punched me square in the face and threw me down the stairs into about 6 or 7 other officers who then surrounded me and continually punched me in the face. meanwhile i still had my hands up facing the ground and shouting "i am not resisting arrest" over and over again. they then threw me to the ground on the bottom floor and handcuffed me. I had a black eye and a bloody nose because of it. After sitting around for half an hour, they told me i was not under arrest, then they told me after 10 minutes that i was under arrest for violent disorder based on CCTV footage of me at the protest the day before. We got to the police station where after taking pictures of me wearing every combination of my clothes, they decided to confiscate them. I was then locked up for 5-6 hours when finally I was allowed to see a solicitor and have my interview to find out what they had possibly put me through this for. In the end i was told i was going to be summoned back on bail or cautioned but there was no chance of my release. But when i finally found out what information they had on me, it was laughably thin. Even the police interviewer accepted it was ridiculous. They had a picture of me climbing over into the middle half of the barrier at the bank of england after about 6 others did it. However after the first person was turned back by the police, we all climbed back over. This was my act of violence and disorder...what kind of a police state are we in when police can smash thousands on the head with batons unprovoked and yet someone who dares to put their foot on a barrier is locked up for 6 hours and charged with violent disorder. After i was granted bail, they refused to give me my clothes back. They knew full well i had a lift at 7 or my last bus was at half 10 and yet they released me at exactly 11 which i found suspicious. They released me wearing black plimsolls white jogging trousers and a white tshirt and nothing else. they released me looking like this with all my possessions in a clear plastic bag as the trousers had no pockets. So I wondered the streets of east london on my own in all white with what looked like a swagbag or goodies for anyone to steal from me in the middle of the night. the clothes they confiscated were not for evidence. no forensics were needed from them and i admitted it was me in the photo they had of me. they also had about 10 photo's of me wearing my clothes in all different formats. This was obviously ritual humiliation.

matt lygate
mail e-mail: matt_the_great699@hotmail.com


Comments

Display the following 5 comments

  1. Safe? — pobcn
  2. not an eviction, just a raid — Janos
  3. Better check for hidden mikes — over cautious
  4. it's a bit late for caution now — Exasperated
  5. They will attack us anyway... — Dave
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
8th February, Cardiff: Demo at court: Defend the right to protest
8th February, London: #OccupyOil
8th February, Bristol Census refusers in court. Vigil outside
9th February, London: Solidarity demo at 'Domestic Extremist' case against ACPO and The Met
24th-26th February, near Glasgow: Earth First! Winter Moot
10th-11th March, Somerset: Surround and blockade Hinkley Point nuclear power station
From May 1st, Brighton Smash EDO: Summer of Resistance
9th June for 30 days, Faslane: 30 Days of Action at Faslane Naval Base

Ongoing UK
Every Wednesday, Brighton: noise demos at EDO MBM
Ongoing, Lincs: RAF Waddington Peace Camp. Protesting against Drone Warfare. More info.
Ongoing, London: Occupy London Stock Exchange
Ongoing, London Occupy Finsbury Square
Ongoing, Sheffield Occupy Sheffield
Ongoing, Cardiff Occupy Cardiff
Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Climate Change: Climate Indymedia
United Kollectives
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern England
Nottingham
Scotland
Projects
Indymedia Projects
iMobile Page
Photo Page
Indymedia Cinema
Video Page
Radio Page
Offline Newsheet
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Unencrypted Page
We suggest you use an encrypted connection for browsing this site.
Please install the CAcert root certificate to verify the authenticity of the site, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv

Africa
ambazonia
canarias
estrecho / madiaq
kenya
south africa

Canada
london, ontario
maritimes
ottawa
quebec
victoria

East Asia
japan
qc
saint-petersburg

Europe
abruzzo
alacant
antwerpen
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
bristol
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
euskal herria
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
london
madrid
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
nice
northern england
norway
oost-vlaanderen
paris/île-de-france
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
ukraine
united kingdom

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
melbourne
qc
sydney

South Asia
india

United States
arizona
atlanta
austin
baltimore
big muddy
binghamton
boston
buffalo
charlottesville
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
la
madison
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new mexico
new orleans
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
seattle
united states
urbana-champaign
western mass

West Asia
beirut
palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech