London Indymedia

SOCPA - STWC 'ban' was bollocks

rikki | 09.10.2007 00:40 | SOCPA | Repression | London

i'm sure indymedia readers knew this anyway, but the proof is on the bbc website

FROM THE BBC WEBSITE

Owen George, 21, who was at the protest in Parliament Square, said the demonstration was "amazing".

He said: "They managed to get into the square, which is very good. It's amazing how much freedom people do have in this country."

CND chairwoman Kate Hudson accused Mr Brown of trying to ban the protest - despite promising to extend liberties around the world at the Labour Party conference.

However, a Home Office spokeswoman said the march had not been "banned" and talks had been held to find a way of re-routing protesters.

The Metropolitan Police said it had worked with the coalition to "facilitate" a lawful protest.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: "Our aim is to balance the right of the Stop the War Coalition to freedom of protest whilst maintaining the right of MPs and peers to conduct the business of either House whilst they are sitting."

yeah, well, aren't the STWC amazing?

the real truth is that when people started pulling the illegal fences down around the grass of parliament square, the STWC stewards were desparately urging people to keep moving (away from the action). and at the point superintendent terry (in charge today) gave up and called his officers to retreat (film coming soon), the STWC were on side and co-operating (as always).

the 'ban' was a sham - it was a lie, and it was an arrangement with the police to make the STWC look good. some police on the ground have admitted there was never a ban, while the police press office claimed there was a ban last weekend. so many different stories - so many lies.

the STWC hailed the march to parliament as a 'victory' for free speech, but it was a shocking charade as always, and the tony benns and lindsay germans, and the george galloways, and the (i'm sorry to say) mark thomases, were the goons that facilitated the charade. only brian haw, in his fine speech, pointed out the hypocricy of the stwc and ken livingstone's fences. he was the only voice in trafalgar square who had the guts to call for people to tear down the fences, and thankfully a few did just that, while the STWC stewards tried to urge people away.

free speech? bollocks!

the war criminals are still in power and the media ignore the lies, and the children in iraq and afghanistan are still dying, and the depleted uranium munitions are still being used, and the STWC is morally bankrupt.

and the fences are now back up.

GLA spokesman 'tim middleton' claimed the fences were there while the grass is 'reseeded'.

in october? for two months? what sort of fucking gardeners are the GLA?

tim middleton is a liar. there's no reseeding going on. the grass is fine. this is political.

by the way. the other excuse is the preparation for the 'lloyd george' statue to be unveiled at the end of the month. well, historians have recently revealed an entry in lloyd georges diaries. referring to afgahanistan, the lovely imperialist lloyd george wrote "let's bomb the niggers".

do we want this statue in parliament square?

more info nearer the unveiling. come and tell them what you think of this!

rikki

Comments

Hide the following 7 comments

stwc

09.10.2007 06:01

Ever since the protests in the run up to Iraq War, I've been thoroughly disilluioned with the stop the war coalition monopolising anti-war protest. I particularly remember the stewards attempting to stop any form of creative action (even sit-downs!) on grounds of HEALTH AND SAFETY!

The best thing for protest in this country would be more acceptance of more diversity within it, and not a coalition which does a very good job of herding protesters around and making sure they don't do anything the police wouldn't like.

Joanna


err...Rikki...

09.10.2007 07:31

"some police on the ground have admitted there was never a ban" ... Rikki's blind hatred of Stop the War Coalition goes as far as believing the forces of the state over Lindsey German ...

hmm, I don't agree with her on much but I'd accept her story before the police. clearly Rikki has more faith in the forces of repression. shameful. really shameful.

Ben


Lindsey German - lickspittle coplover

09.10.2007 07:39

"The police have always said that we've behaved in a very, very good fashion and we've always co-operated with the police." - Lindsey German, yesterday.

ACAB


errrr.... Ben...

09.10.2007 08:06

'rikki' is know to have been covering news from Parliament Square for some considerable time now.
The situation there is complex and often not as it seems.
Do you not think he may have built up a few contacts on the ground and be smart enough to know which coppers might be prepared to let slip on what they beleive is the truth.....?
Or are all police lying scumbags to you?

Thanks for your time and insight rikki

Cassandra


save your scorn for the war criminals not the comrades!

09.10.2007 23:24

As you say the police accounts of the banning and de-banning of the demo were contradictory.So why doubt the account which went round the demo, I presume from the STWC itself, that the police were ok, it was the government which told the police not to allow the march ? And give a thought to the sister standing by the fence who would have gone to court for incitement to riot if she HADN'T, as a steward in the police hearing, told people to move on.

Why are you so keen to rubbish the STWC when German said with apparent sincerity that she would go to jail for the right to march ?

It's divisive,counter-productive and mean to accuse the STWC of provoking or manipulating the ban. However much you disagree with their politics, where does this kind of conspiracy myth get us ? Save your venom for the war criminals. We need to focus on that, not fall about into 100 groupuscules.

Anne
mail e-mail: amgggg2@yahoo.co.uk


100 groupsucles

10.10.2007 07:13

would be a damn sight harder to control and/or manipulate.

freeluncher


Freedom?

10.10.2007 13:29

lets not get too complacent about 'freedom'
remember what happened to the miners and the Beanfield 'massacre'


 http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-history-84-85.html

lets hope the media helps to keep up th pressure

Dorothy


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