Police attempt raid of Camp for Climate Action
Camp for Climate Action | 14.08.2007 23:12 | Climate Camp 2007 | Climate Chaos | London
Climate Action, approximately thirty police, backed by officers in riot
gear, attempted to raid the camp. They entered the camp without warning,
carrying cans of what appeared to be CS gas.
With their hands in the air, protesters formed a human barrier and blocked
the police, before peacefully escorting them off the site.
why it occurred. It was clearly planned in advance. Riot vans assembled in
the hour leading up, and ambulances were called to be on standby. The
police waited until all the media had left, and then blocked journalists
from returning to cover the stand-off.
Police then prevented people, including local residents wanting to show
support, from coming to the site.
"There is no reason for so many officers to come on site when things are completely calm and peaceful. This was a clear attempt to provoke us. Yet not one of us rose to the bait. This is a peaceful protest. We are not and we will not be the people that the police and the Evening Standard say we are" said Alice Coterley.
Police had previously claimed that they only wanted and needed a patrol of four community police officers, which protesters had allowed on site without incident.
During the attempted raid, an officer, (UC3666) completely unprovoked,
punched one of the people forming the human barrier. The officer was
immediately removed from the site by a senior colleague.
One police officer was heard to say that the raid had been carried out by the Forward Intelligence Team, without prior consultation with senior command.
Police have currently pulled their forces away from the camp, and
everything is now peaceful. Protesters are nevertheless worried that this was an attempt to scare people from coming to the camp.
The calm atmosphere at the camp has now resumed and the programme of
workshops will continue as planned.
Camp for Climate Action
Comments
Hide the following 9 comments
Makes me more determined!
15.08.2007 09:11
Camper
Lack of Press Reports
15.08.2007 13:28
Sovereign
Really??
15.08.2007 15:27
Winston Smith
CS gas? Nonsense.
16.08.2007 12:36
ACAB
this is what democracy looks like
16.08.2007 20:13
( to be fair to the 'actual' community police (as opposed to the FIT in disguise), many of them disclosed their disgust at our treatment and their support for our occupation of the proposed runway site which, if built, will destroy their neighbourhood. just a shame that they still persisted in the 'just following orders line'.)
i would be love to know what is happening to officer UC3666 now as it was probably his unprovoked roundhouse punch that unsettled the police operation the most. don't they usually wait until you're alone in a cell or down a back alley before attacking like this, not with a couple of hundred witnesses a few inches away? as Camper's comments show, what a bloody backfire extraordinaire!
as for allowing "a few carefully selected correspondents" greater access, this was the camp's original plan until a few disgruntled, (excluded) journo's caused a furore with the NUJ, complaining that this was not fair and a breach of good journalistic practice and so on and so forth. it was therefore decided to retract the invitations that had been made to 2 or 3 sympathetic journalists in order to be seen to be fair. unfortunately, this means that the police can prevent the media from witnessing incidents such as this one which not only showed the brutality of the police but also the effectiveness of such a peaceful yet firm rebuttal of their power.
i am afraid that the assertion that "obviously the police would appoint the media who would be on site" is absolutely ludicrous and i'm also confused as to why mainstream media equals a bloody outcome? undoubtedly, indymedia activists are doing a fantastic job but the fact that the police prevented the mainstream from filming these events leads me to believe that they do not wish to be filmed in their more nefarious operations. Winston, you say you fear "black bloc" reprisal but surely their purpose is to position themselves in-between attacking cops and other protesters not to go out looking for a ruck. just because a person is dressed in black and masked up does not mean that they are part of a black block, uncontrolled and misdirected violence is just ineffective whereas a focused black block can be highly efficacious.
i did hear reports of a cs canister going off, it is entirely plausible as the cops were carrying the gas, (attached to their belts as standard kit). the forward momentum of the protesters was not affected by this which either means that this report was specious or that the torrential rain dampened its effect. ACAB correctly points out that the green canisters are fire extinguishers but maybe he can also explain just why these were being carried during this operation?
ff
UC3666 in trouble?
20.08.2007 18:29
I would think that even if the person won't personally complain, if someone was close enough to take a note of his number, then surely that person can make a complaint against this bullying thug. Did anyone else see this shocking event?
Does anyone know if this is being done; of course there are bound to be lies on top of lies about this, and I think it's important to get to the truth about these things!
Emma Dewhurst
Let's be clear about this...
21.08.2007 11:08
Balance
UC3666 - lies, more lies ............??
22.08.2007 10:11
The fact is, there is/was no UC3666.
Perhaps this is why we haven't heard anything about this anywhere else. For some reason that I don't care to think about, somebody appears to be publishing misleading information.
This kind of stuff really gives us all a very bad name, and has completely undermined my confidence in this site.
Emma Dewhurst
TSG have 4 numbers
22.08.2007 10:20
Furthermore, Special Constables have 4 digit numbers ending with a 5 and Community Support Officers a 4 digit number ending in a 7.
Your brother's cop sounds like shes either dumb or a liar.
fitwatcher