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Some thoughts on the G20 police riot

Stay Free | 07.04.2009 17:20 | Policing | Repression | Social Struggles | World

As has been said numerous times now, we need to take stock of the police riot on April 1st 2009 during the G20 protests. Although none of the tactics were that new, the level of intimidation and repression of public protest was entirely something different. I suppose this is the way things will be from now on. With this is mind, it's a time of learning from the past and from the G20 protests.

MEDIA:
The police laid the bait and the media ran with it. Where were the 1000's of anarchists (homegrown and from abroad) who would trash the city? The hype surrounding this event was out of this world surpassing even J18 in 1999, Maydays and G8 2005.
The inevitable 'riot' (essentially a pissed-off response to the kettle and antagonism from the police) was small fare. Despite this reality, it became the self-fulfilling prophecy of the media and thus the police. The trashing of RBS from within the kettle by people without any masks was a tragedy. Not because a bank is busted up but because it was an entirely spectacular act that served little tactical purpose. It seems these days that the police are happy to sacrifice a few windows as they seem to stand back and observe events, constantly photographing anything that happens to make arrests later (during raids and on later demos). This was already the case on some the rowdy Gaza demos of early 2009.


CROWDS and POWER:
The break-outs from the kettles were far more inspiring acts of a protest that wants to defy the repressive logic and practice of the police. Here were friends, strangers etc working together in solidarity against that insistence that we must be the enemies of normality (normality now being recession, redundancies, bail-outs, continuous war and so forth). It was joyful to bust out and see in an instance the powerless of the police and their robotic acting of orders from above.

However, there were times especially early on where a single line of police held in numerous people in the kettle while outside looking in were crowds of 200, 300+. Sadly there was very little cohesion and solidarity from these crowds to realise the frailty of the kettle in these moments. It would have been easy to push them aside, with no possibility of arrest and to make a path to free those kettled behind. These acts are events that happen fairly spontaneously when an opportunity is seen. For those opportunites to arise however we must look out for them. The kettling tactic is getting more and more common and more and more debilitating to social movements in London. It should be realised that the police will attempt to kettle any anti-capitalist demo in the future. Unlike, J18 in 1999 when a large crowd split into 4 mobile marches, G20 was the reverse with the initiave of movement and energy lost by having 4 marches converge at one easily containable location. This was a mistake.

KEEP MOVING:
Maybe we need to rethink static demos. We are always subject to kettling and the increasing brutality of the police against anyone (passive or active) if we remain in one place. It makes far more sense for both multiple marches and for demos to stay mobile. With mobility, we keep the advantage of speed and location because the police on the ground have to rely on waiting for orders from above to react. Sometimes, the police are not in control of movement on the ground because they are not used to multiple locations and can't react quick enough to assessments and reports from officers in different locations.

Keeping mobile is something that needs some thought and practice.


SPECTACLE OF PROTEST:
As a follow on from the above point about the media hype, it was both amazing and depression to see how many people on the demo were content to take photos of anything and everything without actually contributing to the protest itself. Anytime a police line arrived, then photos were taken. If push and shove happened between a few people and the cops, then 100 people photographed it. You could not escape the point that whereas once you might be on the streets to take the space for ourselves, now people were content to merely own it by photographing it. For what point? To show friends, keep a memory, for Facebook, for Twitter? It was an utterly overwhelming experience to see people now content to only mediate their individual presence on the street instead of being there and feeling the power we had as a collective.

PHOTOGRAPHY ON DEMOS:
Things need to be re-leant once more. Some times photography on demos is useful. To document arrest or events leading up to arrest. To document police violence, police tactics, police numbers. However, it is totally UNACCEPTABLE to photograph people in the act of resisting the police or resisting the glossy violence of private property (trashing!). Since the Poll Tax riot of 1990 when the media published for the first time pictures of people they wanted to arrest, the presence of photographers has been a contested point. For a few years after this, anyone snapping rioters was seen as a potential aide to the police and told to fuck off or worse if they persisted. This must become standard again. We are talking about photos that will put people in prison.
If people post their images of 'rioters' to Indymedia, Twitter, blogs etc they will be used by the police to make an indentification case for those arrested or those they seek to arrest. The best defence for all is to stop people taking photos of anything that will put someone's liberty at risk.

MASKING UP:
If you are up for illegal stuff on demos then you have to be masked up. This means all the time unless you have a change of clothes.
Their are two ways to mask up:
1) The right way
2) And the wrong way!!

See photos!!

LEARNING AGAIN:
The anti-capitalist movements that culminated in J18 and Maydays were nearly a decade ago. There is a new movement being created and it's a younger one. The Gaza demos were the first signal that something radical is back on the streets. Yet even that had to learn when to fight back and when not too. i.e not in a police kettle where you have no way out!!
We have to begin talking to each other again. Learning from each other and looking after one and other. Things will be pretty heavy in the next few years and beyond. The G20 police riot shows that we are not living in some liberal democracy with free-flowing freedom of speech. The increasing crackdown on dissent (read: political protest not engaged in pointless marching and petition collecting) is real. We need to stand together and not be divided into 'good' and 'bad' protesters. The police attack on Climate Camp shows that we are all under attack. We need to be asking questions now in our movements and communities about what the police riot at the G2O means.

Stay Free

Additions

Photos to article

07.04.2009 17:59

Graphic image of how mediated the 'riot' was
Graphic image of how mediated the 'riot' was

Photographers in the act of jailing protestor
Photographers in the act of jailing protestor

Kettle ready for breaking
Kettle ready for breaking

These people are anonymous!
These people are anonymous!

These people are not anonymous. They are posing!!
These people are not anonymous. They are posing!!

Photos did not appear. Here they are then.

Stay Free


Comments

Hide the following 14 comments

All lumped into one?

07.04.2009 18:22

"For a few years after this, anyone snapping rioters was seen as a potential aide to the police and told to fuck off or worse if they persisted. This must become standard again."

While I understand your frustration with what went on on the day, and while I accept that photographers tend to 'swamp' events chilling them at the same time, I have to say that this generic attitude to photographers isn't helpful.

You can't stop people taking images. Most are people who are amateurs and one can only guess why they are at these events. In fact, as we can see today, the tragic and brutal treatment of Ian Tomlinson would not be in the public domain if it were not for photographers and videographers who were present being freely able to film and photograph. In fact much of what you say in your article is based on footage that now exists and has been published.

Where would you be right now without this?

I have been around documenting campaigners since 1999 at J18. At that event I myself fell foul of exactly the kind of atitude you are trying to outline. Beaten in the street for taking photographs. We simply do not need to go back to that. It isn't helpful, alienates the media and undermines you yourselves. Worst of all, it allows the police and authorities free-reign to carry out violent acts without fear of consequence.

The number of photographers that are around nowadays IS a problem...but this isn't the way to deal with it.


Terry



Terence Bunch
- Homepage: http://terry.bunch@terencebunch.co.uk


another idea

07.04.2009 21:09

a change of clothes is also a good idea. Even just a t-shirt you can put over your top. hood down, mask removed makes it much easyer to slip away. I had a englend kit that i use to get out of the kettle,

oxlad


masking up is NOT just for the naughty boys/girls

08.04.2009 09:51

everyone should mask up, ensuring all recognisable areas of their body are covered (face, hair, tattoos and piercings).
when things kick off, the police will arrest anyone they can who was near by. (to get you out of the way and to question you).
even if you are a 100% passive resistive, re-incarnation of Ghandi himself, you can end up in the wrong place at the wrong time. also your non combative enemy's (fascists, bankers, huntsmen, embassy workers, e-on staff, who ever your protesting against basically) can point into a crowd of people and say "its that one with the dreads", or "that one with the blonde hair ect" it might just be that everyone involved has fucked off, but they will want to get someone arrested.
i've seen it before where people who have stayed well away from trouble have been nicked because they where either seen in the area, or wrongly pointed out by someone.
masking up keeps you anonymous, makes the group look stronger, and shows solidarity to those who are doing more direct forms of protesting.
masking up helps ensure you don't get your door kicked down a week after the demo.
always mask up on demos or actions.

captain maskup


if you where a testosterone filled cop up for a fight?...

08.04.2009 10:24

which looks like an easier target?

 http://azat.files.wordpress.com/2007/06/blackb.jpg
or
 http://www.buytaert.net/cache/images-gent-protest-2006-masses-500x500.jpg
no insult to anyone, but if i where a big angry cop who wants a fight, i know who i would and wouldn't want to mess with...
black bloc lets the police know your not going to sit and watch them batter someone.

cop analist


compilation of ideas & tactics in the Guide to Public Order Situations

08.04.2009 13:23

What I've seen and read from the G20 makes me think too that not much has changed in police tactics, though perhaps more use of more violence, and some spangly new toys (armoured vehicles, tasers). However, we need to keep learning and innovating.

So we should all copy and distribute copies of the Guide to Public Order Situations at mass protest events, with maybe a condensed version on a flier. There's so many people on these things that haven't thought about the various situations you can end up in, and how to keep control of the situation and what you want to achieve.

There's lots of old versions of it floating around on various websites such as the SchNews one, but the most up-to-date one is (& will continue to be) below.
Read it at  http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/manchester/porder.htm
You can download it from  http://www.earthfirst.org.uk/manchester/porder.pdf though the email address for comments on that version are wrong. I've heard talk of people wanting to update it, so send any comments you have about what you've experienced and your thoughts on tactics to the compilers at Manchester Earth First!

reposter


The article is clear re: photography on demos

08.04.2009 14:14

"However, it is totally UNACCEPTABLE to photograph people in the act of resisting the police or resisting the glossy violence of private property (trashing!)"

That means putting people's liberty in danger by photography their resistance is unacceptable. There's no argument. It can put people in prison whether the pics are in the Telegraph, Indymedia or Flickr whatever your motive for photographing people resisting (wages, alt media, web 2 stuff). In these circumstances you are working against the movements and should be told to fuck off. Then it's your choice.

The article doesn't say don't photograph arrests, police violence, police movements etc.

SF


protest and spectacle

08.04.2009 14:31

There's some really good points here, especially on the spectacle aspect of the protest.

In some ways, the whole thing was totally predictable (the tragic death of Ian Tomlinson aside) and at some points it felt as though all participants (protesters, cops and media) were reading from a script. The trashing of the banks seemed very contrived, expected and almost encouraged by the police who left RBS unguarded. And as to the people who broke the windows in full view of dozens of cameras with faces unmasked, they obviously didn't think it through! We've gotta get wise to the fact that any act of protest now takes place in a mediated world of surveillance and spectacle. There was also some fairly pointless confrontations with the cops, due to too much testosterone on both sides. Unless the police are actually attacking or kettling people, fighting them for its own sake is a waste of time, and was only fulfilling tabloid media expectations. I felt that too many people took the bait when we should have been focused on not getting penned in by the cops in the first place.

I was a little surprised by the naivete of the crowd at some points. It was almost as if, once we had successfully reached the bank of england, everyone was waiting to be told what to do. It was 100% predictable that the police would kettle us in at that point, and yet we allowed it to happen. However, as you point out, it's possible to get out of a kettle fairly easily. Once i'd found my two friends who i'd been separated from, we took advantage of a surge in the crowd and loads of us managed to push through police lines very quickly and with no hassle at all.

Despite the points you make though, there was definitely an optimism and creativity in the crowd reminiscent of reclaim the streets. (I was well impressed by the climate camp in managing to block the road pretty much unimpeded for the whole day). I agree that things have to keep mobile and spontaneous: we have to be able to respond quickly, to move, and not allow ourselves and our friends to be pushed around by thugs in uniform. I think there is clearly a desire and potential for really creative and joyful acts of resistance and creating alternatives. We've just gotta keep learning and keep going!

Criatura


Banners

08.04.2009 14:37

Another thought. We could have done with many more sturdy banners with handles to deflect baton blows and to use as a snowplough through kettles.

Thrip


re banners

08.04.2009 20:26

reinforced banners and other ideas for getting through police lines in the Guide to Public Order Situations - read it, and add your own thoughts and comments. Keep those ideas coming...

reposter


photographers

09.04.2009 10:06

I am an amateur photographer who was at the demo
i was there when the shit kicked off (several locations)
my main aim was to protest and take some shots of people on the demo whilst there.
when it all kicked off (RBS) i was very close, but instead of taken snapshots of people smashing windows etc
, i walked down Bartholomew lane to get images of the riot cops and horses.
the images i have from that day are of people attempting to exercise there right to protest
Do i deserve to be told to fuck off or get a kicking for this by my fellow protesters ?
I agree about the fuckwits posting incriminating images all over the net
But sadly as long as anybody with mobile phone thinks they can get a scoop picture it's going to happen.
So as said if you want to cause mischief , Mask up.

DJ


re photographers

09.04.2009 11:27

Masking up "if you want to cause mischief" can only work if other people mask up too, and there's some solidarity in stopping people getting snatched. People with masks were getting unmasked by individual coppers grabbing if close by, or by snatch squads. If this solidarity doesn't happen, then your comments are irrelevant.

Also, it is easy to take a photo and in the background someone is doing something incriminating. It isn't just whether you post them here or not,it's whether when you come through the cordon or otherwise get stopped by the police, they say thank you very much for those clear photos of people who were here, we'll have them!

> the images i have from that day are of people attempting to exercise there right to protest
> Do i deserve to be told to fuck off or get a kicking for this by my fellow protesters ?
No you don't deserve it, at least from what you've written, but you should also try to understand that in some situations, such as on protests, people's safety and their ability to protest without fear should come before your desire to photograph people on a demo.

reposter


DJ - Did you read the article and the comment properly??

09.04.2009 13:38

It's clear in the article and the comment:

Photography can be useful to "document arrest or events leading up to arrest. To document police violence, police tactics, police numbers. However, it is totally UNACCEPTABLE to photograph people in the act of resisting the police or resisting the glossy violence of private property (trashing!)"

"Putting people's liberty in danger by photography their resistance is unacceptable...The article doesn't say don't photograph arrests, police violence, police movements etc. "

This seems to be exactly what you did! So why would you be told to F.O or face a kicking?

SF


comments

09.04.2009 17:13

Thanks for the comments
i agree that photos can and should only be used to benefit good
maybe i didn't make more point clear
i was just a little concerned about the 'return to the old days' aspect of the article
also as stated i was there to protest. first and foremost.
keep dodging the batons !
regards DJ


dj


fuck off photographers.

09.04.2009 17:43

It's bad enough we have the state/travel companies/business' photographing (CCTV, FIT and the media etc) us at every opportunity without total fuckwits who are supposed to be on OUR side getting in the way with their camera when you are trying to protect other activists from police blows.

Yes, take a photograph of police violence but if you think you can lean over the shoulder of someone who's trying to protect themselves and others & start snapping you can fuck right off. I've seen this so many times it's not funny. Why aren't you helping instead of just getting in the way.

As for people who photograph protesters who are just sat down/walking along then you deserve a kicking (and the ones who put those pix online without even blurring faces need it doubly so, even if blurring doesn't help - there is so much other info the police can get from those pics even with blurred faces. It's easy to say "well you should mask up then", and I agree - but lots of people don't realise that - do they deserve police attention all because you want to be some kind of super-cameraperson?).

Anti-Camera


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