Fucking Police State! Ha ha though with undercurrents making their Ch4 documentary on police control of media :-)

Since the police press conference there's been a rash of articles carrying the police messages of an 'in your face zero tolerance' policing style on mayday - Liberty has warned this may create problems.

What's more the campaign to isolate and split demonstrators moves up a gear with the open call by police for people "who care about the isuess involved" not to attend mayday demonstrations!!:


May Day protests face 'zero tolerance'

Nick Hopkins, crime correspondent
Friday April 13, 2001 - The Guardian
 http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,472756,00.html

Anti-capitalist demonstrators who break the law during the May Day protests will face a "zero tolerance, in your face" approach from police, who are determined to avoid last year's chaotic scenes in Westminster, Scotland Yard said yesterday.
Senior officers estimate that a core of 1,000 demonstrators from all over the country are intending to cause trouble, and that their strategy will involve injuring police officers and damaging up to 200 businesses and banks, with a focus on Oxford Street.

Rather than standing back to see if trouble starts, officers will be briefed to act immediately, police said.

"It will be a more robust approach this year," said Mike Todd, a Metropolitan police assistant commissioner."We will be very, very positive."

The change of tactics reflects the frustration of Sir John Stevens, the Met commissioner, and the home secretary, Jack Straw, that demonstrators managed to daub graffiti on the Cenotaph, deface a statue of Winston Churchill and dig up the grass in Parliament Square during last year's protests.

After last year's protests Tony Blair declared that such behaviour must never happen again. Sir John is known to have been involved in reformulating the Met's strategy, and has decided to run the risk that a more aggressive approach could lead to claims of stifling peaceful protest and inciting violence.

The civil rights group Liberty said yesterday that an aggressive stance could encourage overreaction from officers.

"We don't have a problem with the police preventing criminality," said a spokesman. "But we would be concerned if zero tolerance in any way curbed the right to peaceful protest. That is a real danger."

A series of demonstrations are planned on Tuesday May 1, entirely separate from the official TUC May Day march.

Police believe that around 5,000 people will come to the capital to take part in unofficial events scheduled to start at 7.30am with a cycle ride to Kings Cross station, culminating in a gathering in Oxford Street at 4pm.

"Our intelligence suggests that this could be the main flashpoint," said Mr Todd. "We don't want to prevent lawful protest. It's a basic right and we police demonstrations all the time. But we are not going to allow people to commit criminal offences.

"There will be a zero tolerance of criminality. If you allow a certain amount of it, then it will escalate. We are going to do all we can to ensure that people working, living and shopping in London are safe. We don't want London closed."

Mr Todd admitted that the ringleaders of last year's trouble had not been caught - even though more than 100 people were arrested - and said it had been difficult to gather intelligence on those planning this year's protests.

A website and a glossy pamphlet produced to support anti-capitalist action on May 1 invite protesters to play "May Day Monopoly", using the format of the board game to tell people where to go in London. Under headings such as Park Lane, Bond Street and Mayfair, they describe buildings, companies and banks that are legitimate targets for demonstration. It also offers "Don't Go to Jail" advice.

The pamphlet says: "So you want to change the world? Fight the forces of globalising darkness? Not a bad ambition, but you'll need help. Activism, like playing Monopoly or having sex, can be a bit embarrassing if you do it alone. If you are going to play May Day Monopoly, you best do it with people you like and trust. It should be the start of an ongoing career of activism, agitation and generally making a nuisance of yourself."


FRIDAY APRIL 13 2001
Police May Day 'in your face' tactics
STEWART TENDLER, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
 http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-114285,00.html

POLICE will use "in-your-face" tactics against May Day protesters in London next month, openly filming and stopping them using masks. New public order powers allow police to arrest demonstrators wearing masks and hoods.
Michael Todd, Scotland Yard’s Assistant Commissioner, said he wanted to ensure that there was no repeat of last May Day’s disturbances when the Cenotaph was daubed and a McDonald’s restaurant in Whitehall was smashed.

Five thousand police officers from three forces are being called up in a "zero tolerance" crackdown. They could face up to 5,000 protesters including a hard core of 1,000 bent on attacking more than 200 targets across the capital. The protests are being launched under an anti-capitalist umbrella with slogans proclaiming: "Money. Don’t bank it. Break it" and "Pay for human need not capitalist greed".

The "Mayday Monopoly" protest is based on the board game and ends in Oxford Street. Police fear this will be the flashpoint for widespread violence and vandalism along one of the world’s most famous streets at the height of the rush hour.

Targets listed on the Internet include Barclays Bank, accused by protesters of investing in the arms trade, and McDonald’s, accused of exploiting staff and livestock and selling unhealthy food.

Boots is targeted for selling "potentially cancerous dioxin-infested products". Starbucks is accused of exploiting Third World growers and promoting a degrading single crop culture. The Body Shop is accused of violating workers’ rights because unions are banned.

Police fear protesters will try to mount "spectacular" events by occupying buildings. Last year the protesters planned to invade a government building in Whitehall.

Mr Todd urged legitimate protesters to stay away. Target buildings will be given police protection and officers are visiting companies to advise on security. Mr Todd said: “It is going to be a very robust approach. If you allow a certain amount of criminality it can escalate.” Mr Todd said he was determined that normal life in London should continue and said police are appealing to companies not to close and turn the city into a ghost town.

Planned activities include mass cycle rallies, protests at the World Bank offices in the Haymarket and demonstrations against privatisation and Third World debts.

I dunno I just happen to get extremely weirded out when I read about such police incitement to/of violence, in the build up to Tuesday. In truth it scares the shit out of me. I only hope from the bottom of my heart that the protest on Tuesday breeds nothing more than global solidarity and durable collective identity, love, pie-action, and targeted vandalism rather than war. Call me naive, call me a fluffy little fluffball, but for some reason this protest thing can at times appear unbalanced- I think that directing hate against anyone be it those in authority, some posh person or corporate pot bellied pigs in karma style comes straight back to haunt. However this is not to say that love means sitting on your arse looking into the mirror with a pair of rose-tinted specs on, love can translate to action. While I am aware that people need to go RAHHHHH, it seems that it can go in on itself and create 'protest exhaustion', I've heard a good few people rant continually and boringly for years about the same subjects simply because they've imprisoned themselves in their own tight cul-de-sac thought patterns. I am just not intuitively into this 'us' 'them' mentality- surely there is more to it than that? Quite simply if I hate them, it means that I have to hate myself a little bit in order to do so? Love not war- surely? I'm sick of seeing disillusioned people, twisted and screwed up because they had the anger burnt out of them. Surely police and capitalists alike are not truly a breed apart? I reckon this needs to be remembered for what it's worth. But back to the immediate concern...do what you do on Tuesday people
...spread light throughout this tiny world, but give yourselves lots of love and care too.