Quicktime version of the Class War-FIT Watch video.

The Police Forward Intelligence Team turned out as well to photo and video protesters on the 7000 strong march to Save the NHS, which also took place last Saturday. They seemed particularly fixated with getting pics of the samba. Maybe it was the samba's sexy doctors, nurses and cleaners outfits or maybe the drummers are a threat to capitalism or the national security in the minds of these guardians of the public order. Or maybe they just get their kicks from trying to intimidate peaceful protesters?

Whichever it may be, the one in the flat hat got extremely flustered when protesters responded by taking pictures and filming him and his colleague, and so he started lashing out and shoving people around.

The 'girl in black' didnt really want to get nicked. But neither was the 'girl in black' just prepared to be calmly compliant when the police were herding us like cattle. Why the hell should she? Why the hell should any of us?

Fitwatch is about confronting police who are filming and photographing us. One of the key purposes of such filming is control. The police use the fact that people who know they are being watched are easier to control, are more nervous of stepping out of line, are more likely to do what they are told.

Effectively obstructing police filming isn't easy. Cameramen are usually accompanied by a good number of TSG whose job it is to stop anyone getting close. Fitwatchers are very 'visible' and get shoved around a lot. The more people do it, the more effective it will be, and, I think, the easier it will be. The possibility that people may stop tolerating police cameras, and confront them instead, is worrying the police enormously.

The girl in black was being bloody belligerent. Perhaps too much so. But she had been shoved around by not-so-gentle cops for pretty much the duration of the demo, and it's a very human thing for frustration to mount and tempers to fray.

And anyway, maybe a bit more bloody belligerence is what we need.