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.

parliament square reoccupied this evening

rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com (rikki) | 09.10.2010 23:26 | London

after this afternoon's 'democracy rally' (indy article to come), a group of about forty people decided to reoccupy parliament square. fences were dismantled and the security guards' tent was occupied and officially squatted. there were two arrests for alleged criminal damage, but the space was helf for nearly six hours before guards man-handled protestors out after the police had left.

at around 6pm this evening, activists raised the fences at parliament square and around 40 people peacefully entered the cordoned off square. boris's eight or so paid 24-hour security guards were unable to stop the re-occupation, and filmed the protestors while calling for police back-up.

at about half past six, spotting that the security guards' own large marquee tent (aptly bearing the logo 'freedomtrail'), was currently empty, a large group of activists ran to it and occupied the 'unoccupied existing dwelling', putting up a sign that they had seized and lawfully occupied it under section 6 of the criminal law act.

after some negotiation with inspector julien morriss, the occupiers allowed the security guards to enter and remove their belongings to a nearby park bench. the police clearly didn't want to get involved other than to prevent a breach of the peace, and after some legal discussion, suggested to the security guards that while activists sat on the ballast bags acting as tent pegs, any attempt to dismantle the tent (the guards' next plan) might lead to such a breach and was ill-advised.

so, it looked like a court order would be necessary to evict the new residents in the parliament square tent.

meanwhile, some pixies armed with appropriate spanners, started work on the fencing, and soon the south-east corner of the square was open to passers-by and the public once more.

guards pointed out two of the pixies to police, claiming that there was criminal damage, so officers stepped forward to attempt arrest. at that point a group huddle started, and although one pixie was handcuffed, both remained inside this new illegal cuddle.

there were not enough police to thwart the loving bundle, and so there was a good-humoured but resolute impasse, as both sides failed to give ground over more than an hour. police clearly didn't have the man-power to complete the arrests, and the protestors weren't prepared to give up their comrades over such a flimsy arrest. while security guards showed slightly bent clamps to the police as evidence of the 'criminal damage', it was clear that even the police were questioning the strange stand-off they'd got themselves into.

however, eventually a dozen burly cops turned up, one of them reading out a warning (not terribly eloquently - he seemed a little over-excited), and then they waded in and snatched the two arrestees, who finally stopped holding hands with their arresting officers. some people in the cuddle were briefly arrested for obstruction and then dearrested.

most of the police then disappeared off into the night again, possibly having something just slightly more useful to do.

activists got in more equipment, food, and provisions to settle for the night.

but then the police made a complete tactical withdrawal, no longer sticking around to 'prevent a breach of the peace', and the security guards began dismantling their own tent.

with activists sitting in the corners of the tent, and on the ballast bags outside, the only solution for the guards was to break some of the tent poles and damage the tent.

as the tent is probably not the property of the guards themselves, there is a strong case for criminal damage charges against them rather than any activists who might have slightly bent a clamp, but somehow i don't suppose this will come to court!

security guards then man-handled people out one by one, and the square was finally reclaimed by boris's army after five and a half hours at 11.30.

activists have of course vowed to be back - watch this space.


rikkiindymedia(At)gmail[dot]com (rikki)
- Original article on IMC London: http://london.indymedia.org/articles/5649

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