Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

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

reclaim st george - report, photos and campacc speech vid

rikki | 24.04.2006 22:27 | SOCPA | Repression | Social Struggles

pics and report from the anti-socpa 'reclaim st george' event this weekend along with a vid of the full speech by deepak gupta from campacc (campaign against criminalising communities)

Every Sunday afternoon, campaigners stage an open picnic on Parliament Square (www.peopleincommon.org), to plan ideas to subvert or test the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (section132). SOCPA requires advance written police permission for demonstrations around parliament thus criminalising spontaneous protest . Dozens of people have been arrested since this law's inception last August, but its operational enforcement appears related to the size of the demonstration and media presence, with small demonstrations providing the easiest target for arrest.

During St. George's weekend, in an action packed with historical symbolism, a group of around a dozen activists camped at Runnymede and then cycled to London on Sunday morning with a copy of the Magna Carta , pausing for breakfast at the site of the Diggers commune at Weybridge St. George's Hill. They were met at the Tibetan Peace Gardens in Lambeth by another twenty campaigners, and ate plenty of wonderful food provided by Hare Krishnas. Deepak Gupta, from Campaign Against Criminalising Communities (CAMPACC), spoke to the crowd about how a swathe of recent laws work together to repress the Human Rights of many of the most vulnerable in our global community, and to intimidate legitimate protest in our streets.

Watched by Forward Intelligence Police, the motley troupe (many dressed in subverted medieval, cross-dressed, St.George-themed clothing and body paint), then walked through the rain carrying blank white banners and placards to Parliament Square. They were kept under surveillance and occasionally pushed around by the Police, but still managed to join the route of the London Marathon for their final symbolic entry to Parliament Square carrying a large white banner between two poles. Another dozen or more campaigners had already set up a refreshments stall at Parliament Square and were playing cricket under the watchful eye of several van loads of police. By now, more than fifty people were involved in the activities in the Square, and bemused Marathon onlookers were asking questions and learning about the SOCPA legislation as well as signing a petition against the prison sentence recently received by conscientious objector Dr. Malcolm Kendall-Smith. The cricketers were playing for the ashes of the Magna Carta, which 'Tony Blair' set on fire under the gaze of media and celebrities such as The Observer's Henry Porter and comedian Alan Davies.

Despite the erection of a huge 'Freedom To Protest' banner, and the clear flaunting of the law, Police withdrew and there were no arrests. The picnics will continue from 1.30pm throughout the Summer, and all are very welcome - bring something to share.

(tech help - if you have difficulty viewing this movie, save the file to your desktop, download the free vlc player from www.videolan.org, and open it from that player)

rikki

Comments

Display the following 2 comments

  1. In praise of St.George — athiestScotsman
  2. ur gr8 — phoebe coombs
Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
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
Fracking
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
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
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
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

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

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

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