A similar thing happened to myself and a small group of demonstrators last Thursday: we had attended a large but admittedly slightly damp protest outside the American Embassy against the arrival of George W. Bush, who was stopping over in London before heading to Genoa. A smaller, but sizeable, group from the protest decided to make their way to the Globalise Resistance "convergence centre" at the University of London Union to sort out arrangements for the train down to Genoa. We were accompanied to Oxford Street tube by a group of some ten to twenty police officers - fairly standard procedure when marching down the street, I suppose - but events quickly took a surreal turn as we were accompanied by some seven or eight of the Bill into the tube station and onto the train.

There's something more than a little bizarre about sharing a crowded Central Line carriage with a posse of the constabulary's finest - god knows what the other passengers made of it all. The police dutifully followed us off the tube at Holborn, where we - in a small tactical diversion - repaired briefly to a nearby pub. The Met, being consumate professionals, remained outside in the rain; their dedication was a joy to behold, but they evidently got bored at some point, and headed off, leaving us to reach ULU in peace.

I can only presume that this is some curious new tactic on the police's part - I'm compiling an article on it for the next issue of Resist, so if anyone has had a similar experience, perhaps they could email me an account to the address above?

It is undoubtedly the case that if it were not for Donna's presence with the tape recorder in her hand the polis would
have continued harrassing us. The lesson then:
Get a tape recorder, a camera, or at least a pen and paper. The thing that unsettled these two slaves more than anything else was their numbers being put on tape along with the fact that those they were following had a bit of a clue as to the law.
I'm just sad we didn't have a video camera, as the 'stare-out' between the pig and the womble was very interesting. The pig decided that he wasn't going to say anything, just stare in the womble's eyes, being a hard man. However, he soon became very uncomfortable, swallowing and sweating, although determined to keep up his stare, like the man he obviously his. That was so funny. Authority crumbling before your eyes.
Much respect to Donna for being in the right place at the right time (by accident!)
All hail the power of Indymedia!
Love and Rage.
A. Womble

p.s. We are all Carlo.

hello,
for those wanting to know more about the progress of police surveillance methods. and what it is like being the target of such attention, please check out my site generally. Or direct links at:
 http://www.gn.apc.org/tash/surv_10.htm
&
 http://www.gn.apc.org/tash/watched1.htm
the whole process can by quite grinding and personal. however, it is important to remember:
"Don't let the bastards gring you down".
Tash
 tash@gn.apc.org

Whilst the reporter above was following one half of the Wombles and their obtrusive police escorts, I too, returning from the demonstration at the Italian embassy, followed the other half with an even grander escort service (5 police to the increasingly perplexed group of three Wombles, again the police had a photographer in tow). A fairly similar situation to the one described above soon arose as the Wombles weaved through the streets of Soho closely tailed by the police who were closely followed by me! It became clear the police were sparing no expense, as I soon noticed that in addition to the 5 officers, one video camera, two nikon stills camera's and powerful zoom lens', the police were also using a helicopter to follow the three Wombles from above. Eventually the Wombles grew tired of the seemingly endless array of streets and took shelter in a pub on Beek street. The five police waited outside the pub and were soon joined by another three officers who arrived in a riot van. Unable to join the Wombles in the pub, due to my tender age of 16, I too waited on the streets, continuing to observe the police
The police soon noticed me and began to point their camera's at me. Frustrated by this I decided to approach them and ask why they were photographing me and following the three peaceful protesters, clearly lacking the necessary grounds for arrest. They refused to answer me, but, as if in consolation, they threatened to arrest me for obstructing the course of justice if I did not move to a possition around a corner, from where I could not see what was going on. I assured them I was not going to obstruct them, but that I was determined to watch their actions. I crossed over the road so that I was still further away from the pub and thus could not possibly obstruct the police. They continued to photograph me from across the road. after about an hour and a half the five original police left to go to the Italian embassy where I later discovered several protesters were attempting to regroup. About 5 minutes later the other three police left.
Good to know that our tax money is well spent!!