Repression
Police and state oppression news.
Merseyside Police Versus Freedom Of Speech
11-10-2008 18:44
An entirely legal demonstration in solidarity with international Freedom Not Fear day was disrupted and halted in Liverpool this afternoon, and two arrests were made.Amdani, Mustafa and Selina are still here
09-10-2008 09:18
The past few weeks have seen a flurry of activity in anti-deportation campaigns in the city. Neither Selina Adda's family or Mustafa have been deported, although their statuses are still uncertain. Selina and family are back in Nottingham to continue their campaign for the right to stay. Mustafa remains in detention whilst fresh representations to the Home Office are considered.
It has also been announced that Nottingham refugee Amdani Juma's Judicial Review of his case is approaching. The Friends of Amdani are holding a rally in support of his right to stay on Saturday.
Newswire: Demonstrate for Amdani Juma's right to stay | Amdani Juma: No Let up in Local Support as Hearing Date Set | URGENT - Stop the deportation of Mustafa! | Mustafa Belongs to Nottingham | Amdani's Judicial Review | Sanctuary for Brian, Chelsea & Selina
Previous Features: Anti-deportation campaign for Notts family | Campaign Victories As Hich And Amdani Are Released On Bail | Nottingham Protests in Support of Detained Resident
Links: No Borders Nottingham | National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns | Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum | Notts Indymedia Migration topic page
Anti-deportation campaign for Notts family
01-10-2008 13:19
A popular family from Wilford had their home raided by immigration police on Monday. Brian, Chelsea and their mother Selina Adda from Ghana are now being held in Yarl's Wood IRC and due to be forcibly removed from the UK on Friday 3rd October on British Airways flight BA81 @ 14:15hrs from terminal 5 Heathrow to Accra, Ghana.
Selina came to the UK seeking asylum from a forced marriage to a man from another culutre in Ghana. Her sister recently committed suicide and she has no remaining friends and family in Ghana. The family's friends and asylum campaigners have begun a campaign to ensure that they stay in Nottingham.
Newswire: Sanctuary for Brian, Chelsea & Selina
Previous Features: Protests in Nottingham as Zimbabwe Goes to the Polls | Campaign Victories As Hich And Amdani Are Released On Bail | Nottingham Protests in Support of Detained Resident
Links: Nottingham and Notts Refugee Forum | National Coalition of Anti-Deportation Campaigns | Notts Indymedia Migration topic page
Full article | 3 additions | 11 comments
Solidarity For Political Prisoner Sean Kirtley
10-09-2008 12:52
On Saturday 6th September two hundred activists made it to Ledbury, Herefordshire, for the Carnival Against Vivisection in solidarity with political prisoner Sean Kirtley. The day of action was called by various groups in resistance to the imprisoning of peaceful campaigners under SOCPA legislation, and as a stand for the animals suffering inside vivisection laboratories.
Protesters met on the grass verge, where the police held them allowing a maximum of 15 at a time to demonstrate outside Sequani labs. Shortly after campaigners made a spontaneous break for the labs, with police responding by blocking the bridge to push back the crowd, creating minor scuffles. Multiple attempts were also made to access the labs using various pre-planned routes, meeting police each time, some of which had dogs. Protesters then regrouped at the grass verge to march the original route around town.
Newswire: Sequani demo | Carnival Against Vivisection - Arrest Witnesses Appeal | Carnival Against Vivisection - some thoughts | Carnival Against Vivisection - Latest
Previous features: Carnival Against Vivisection | Sequani Besieged by Surprise Action
Related links: Free Sean Kirtley | Stop Sequani Animal Testing | Antispeciesist Action | Animal Liberation Front | Bite Back | NETCU Watch | FIT watch | Western Animal Rights Network | Indymedia UK Stop Sequani topic page
Full article | 1 addition | 8 comments
The not-so-secret 'guide to policing protest'
06-08-2008 00:31
Sometime during a busy day of policing the Camp For Climate Action, near Kingsnorth Power Station in Kent, an officer dropped a so-called 'Pocket Legislation Guide on Policing Protest'. The document, issued by the National Extremism Tactical Coordination Unit (NETCU), gives an overview of legislation the police can use to stifle all forms of legitimate protest. The document, which is supposedly not for public consumption, was subsequently posted on Indymedia UK by a camper attending the Climate Camp.
NETCU describe themselves as "promoting a coordinated response to domestic extremism by providing tactical advice to the police service, and information and guidance to industry and government." According to NETCU Watch, an online initiative to monitor the service's activities, the main purpose of their existence is to monitor protest groups, especially related to animal rights campaigns. A further concern is that the police seem to be supporting commerce (especially the vivisection industry) beyond their remit of upholding the law.
Newswire: Police drop top secret NETCU guide to policing protest - Part 1 | Police drop top secret NETCU guide to policing protest - Part 2 | Download full document (PDF)
Links: NETCU Watch | Liberty | Freedom Of Information Act
Grandson of State-Sponsored Terrorism Victim Visits Nottingham
04-07-2008 12:26
Just two weeks after the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) released a report by their Historical Enquiries Team (HET) on the McGurk’s Bar Bombing in 1971, Robert McClenaghan, grandson of Phillip Garry, one of the victims, visited Nottingham to speak at the ICC. He was representing An Fhirinne (The Truth), an organisation of relatives of people murdered by loyalist paramilitaries where there is evidence of collusion between the paramilitaries and British state forces. An Fhirinne and other relatives’ organisations are calling for an Independent International Truth Commission into the slaughter of their loved ones. They believe that a British government inquiry could not possibly be independent, and neither could a government of Ireland one, as they have done little to uncover the truth of killings in the twenty six counties.
Robert visited Nottingham as part of a tour of four English cities as a guest of the Troops Out Movement (TOM), the British- based organisation which campaigns for British withdrawal from Ireland. He showed a very harrowing video of relatives speaking of their lost loved ones. It showed to people in England the reality of what was done in their name.
Newswire: Grandson of Collusion Victim in England - Guest of Troops Out Movement | Truth & Justice for Collusion Victims
Links: Troops Out Movement | An Fhirinne | Notts Indymedia Repression topic page
Protests in Nottingham as Zimbabwe Goes to the Polls
29-06-2008 14:39
On Friday June 27, Zimbabwe went to the polls in the second round of its presidential election. This followed a first round in March. Concerned about the scale of state-directed violence against supporters, the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn on Sunday June 22, making a victory by the incumbent Robert Mugabe inevitable.
In Nottingham, the election was marked by the recently formed Nottingham Zimbabwe Community network (NZCN) who held a protest against deportations to Zimbabwe in Old Market Square and organised a public meeting at the Sumac Centre to discuss the situation in the country.
Newswire: Stop Forced Removals / Deportation of Zimbabweans | Demonstration Against Deportations to Zimbabwe | Report on Zimbabwe Film Showing | Stop Deportations To Zimbabwe Protest 27.06.08
Previous Feature: Nottingham's Zimbabwean Community Responds to Rigged Elections
Links: Nottingham Zimbabwe Community Network | No Borders Nottingham | Nottingham & Notts Refugee Forum | Nottingham Refugee Campaign Ground | National Coalition of Anti-Deportation campaigners | Notts Indymedia Migration topic page
Full article | 2 additions | 7 comments
Anti-Bush Visit Protest Marred by Police Violence and Snatch Arrests
18-06-2008 08:55
On Sunday 15th of June, as George W. Bush was making his way to Downing Street for his last state visit to the UK, thousands of people were gathering in Parliament Square following a call from the Stop the War Coalition.
Although the turn out to Sunday's protest was much smaller than in 2003 when Bush last visited the UK in the high of the Anti-War protest movement, by mid afternoon a crowd of around 2500 determined people were already making clear what they thought of the legacy of George Bush's wars in the Middle East and the US driven War on Terror [Demo video report] A powerful sound system had been set on the square from where several people, including Brian How, made speeches. Meanwhile the crowd kept demanding the arrest of George Bush for his "terrorist activities and war crimes" in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
The protest had already been banned by the Metropolitan Police from marching through Whitehall, therefore crash barriers and police lines had been set at the southern end of Whitehall to prevent the demonstration from moving forward. At some point, the crowd approached the barriers and police lines to demand their right to demonstrate, but they were faced by a line of baton wielding police that started hitting those at the front. As a result a series of scuffles followed, resulting with some head injuries and bruises to some protesters, and the first wave of arrests.
Eventually, a large number of police with riot gear took positions to protect the entrance to Whitehall, whilst at the same time groups of TSG and FIT police forces started to carry a series of snatch arrests around the Parliament Square area [Video of arrests]. By the end of the evening 25 people had been arrested, some of which are now facing charges.
Full article | 1 addition | 1 comment
Repression against anti-fur activists in Austria
17-06-2008 11:48
Ten animal rights campaigners have been held since the 21th May after police raided twenty-three homes and offices in Austria charging individuals with 31 different offences related to the campaign against the the fur-promoting fashion company Kleider Bauer, but most significantly of forming a criminal organisation under Section 278a of Austrian law. One of the prisoners, Martin Balluch has been on hunger strike since the arrests against the violation of his human rights and the state attacks on legitimate campaigning organisations. He is now becoming very weak and was recently moved to a prison hospital after suffering from dizzyness, blurred vision, and stomach pains. Dr Balluch, Chairman of the Association against Animal Factories (VGT) in Austria has asked for "...everyone who cares about animal protection and human rights to take action now to prevent this crime. This kind of police arbitrariness against NPOs is something we might recognize in dictatorships, but not in a democracy. Please stand up strong; stand against this outrageous injustice. My life depends on it." Chair of the Austrian Vegan Society, Felix Hnat and other members have even been remanded, although no charges have been made against any members of the board.
Newswire: Human Rights Scandal | About the prisoners | Message from Prisoners; Felix, Elmar & Chris | Message from Prisoner Martin Balluch | Statement by Martin Balluch | Activists remanded in custody 4 more weeks! | VGT Chairman Dr Martin Balluch Phd. On Hunger Strike
Global solidarity actions: 1 | 2 | New York City
Press releases: Vegan Society | VGT (Association against Animal Factories) | Amnesty International | die tierbefeier e.v. | EVANA | TBF
Links: Antirep2008 (Legal support) | tierbefreier.de (English solidarity website) | Indymedia Austria
Struggle and Repression for Social Centres and Autonomous Spaces
16-06-2008 15:31
Mill Road, a new squatted social centre in Cambridge, lost against Tescos in court last week but are confident about holding onto the place a while longer yet. They have however been experiencing violent attacks from anonymous cowards. There have been many reports of attacks on autonomous spaces recently. In Greece there have been heavy police repression and fascist arson attacks against autonomous space [more]. In Amsterdam, the Citex squat was attacked and illegally evicted by Police. Just a few days ago in Rome, fascists were caught planting a bomb in the front yard of Loa Acrobax. The tide turned briefly when hundreds of people from Berlin and elsewhere went on the offensive and instigated six days of diverse and often militant action in Berlin. In a city which has one of the harshest anti-squatting policies in Europe people showed they were undaunted and defiant [more].
London has seen the eviction of two squatted social centres recently (1, 2) but last week there was a report of a new space opening in Nunhead. Also in south London, the Spike is raising its profile as a community resource as part of a strategy to hang onto the site. At the heart of London's city fringe expansion, Bowl Court social centre lost a courtroom battle against property giant Hammerson and is now considering next moves [background]. Meanwhile, the long running rampART social centre in East London marked it's 4th anniversary but is considering voluntary closure as it has been suffering from neglect, theft and lack of energy since the owners were granted a possession order way back in January.
Gutter press followed the Tory party in inciting hatred towards squatters while squatters in Brighton enjoyed somewhat better press coverage relating to the occupation of a church on London Road in Brighton. In an attempt to promote autonomous spaces, a booklet called 'What's this Place' [PDF] has been produced by the UK Social Centres Network which will probably be having it's next gathering at the newly refurbished Kebele in Bristol, 14th Sept. Also being planned for late summer is a follow up to last months international 'interspace' gathering near Berlin which followed the April2008 mobilisations [more].
Websites of mentioned spaces: Bowl Court, rampART, Nunhead Chapel, The Spike, Mill Road,88 London Road, Kebele, Loa Acrobax
Portal sites : Squat.net | UK Social Centres Network website | Autonomous London
