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Cops get heavy handed at Manchester Peace Rally

Protester | 27.09.2006 15:38 | Repression | Social Struggles

Today in Manchester, a group of around 70 protesters gathered for the Rally of Resistance, an act of civil disobedience against Anti-Terror laws preventing protests close to the G-Mex conference venue of this year's Labour party conference. Manchester Police decided to act less than peacefully and several protesters were gratuitously shoved into a cordon.

The Rally was organised by the Stop the Warmongers. They put on the event to allow people to voice their concerns at New Labours wide range of injustices. Speakers (who were photographed heavily by the police) voiced rage against the war mongering of Blair and co and pointed to the need for civil disobedience.

An unusually wide range of views were shown, ranging from outright pacifism, to defence of armed resistance movements to protect their soil. Protesters were also invited to fill in tags on balloons to be let off, another way to voice their collective anger on the many issues united in opposition to Blair.

When the time came to release the balloons, things took a very sudden change for the worse. People made moves towards the security fence, a distance of 50m or less away, and police appeared from everywhere. At first they formed a line and grabbed any protester who almost got through.

Then they decided, for whatever reason, to shove people as hard as they could into a smaller cordon area, and add a second ring of police. Several protesters were badly shaken, and the police narrowly missed shoving young children and elderly campaigners. A group of students who were trying to stick together were shoved against a tree, and were forcibly separated. The police then began trying to clear onlookers to prevent people seeing what was going on.

When the situation nearly stabilised, senior police were seen and heard discussing how to get into the cordon to arrest "ring leaders", and cameras were shoved in the face of anyone trying to reason with the officers. It appears all the front-line officers had been ordered to say nothing, as only one managed "I'm not talking to you". Interestingly, those who did talk were wearing the yellow bibs with words like "Bronze 1" on the back, presumably a way of marking the boss-cops from the silent underlings.

Protesters were allowed to disperse for a short while, from the end of the cordon farthest from the fence. Then this was stopped for sometime, as the protesters who managed to leave were deemed too dangerous. Later, protesters were allowed out in pairs to disperse. Some took refuge in the Friend's Meeting House, while some officers stood on the doorstep. Others were followed for some time.

What started as a genuinely open microphone rally, ended on the brink of a riot, and all because the police felt the need to shove people around and create a hostile atmosphere. Other protests are planned throughout the week, including student protests and a critical mass bike ride.

Protester