New squatting law starts to crumble - Keep squatting!
Section 144 of LASPO may prove unenforceable in practice
Resistance to s.144 of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act (LASPO) 2012 that outlaws squatting in residential buildings is growing. Ultimately, the law may prove unworkable and unenforceable. There have been a number of successful prosecutions under the new law, including the widely publicised conviction and imprisonment of 21 year old Alex Haigh who came to London looking for work and stayed in an unoccupied housing association flat. He pleaded guilty, but it has since become clear that where a not guilty plea is entered by defendant, it may be difficult if not impossible for the prosecution to prove the charge. After some notable acquittals, we have a better idea about the obstacles facing hapless prosecutors and some of the ways in which well-informed residential squatters might go about successfully defending themselves in court. Read on.
On the newswire: Brighton acquittals 1 | Brighton acquittals 2 | Moelfre acquittal | Squatting as protest in Southwark | Mike Weatherley is a coward case | Alex Haigh conviction | Henry: Bristol's first victim of squatting criminalisation
Other links: Squatters Legal Network | Advisory Service for Squatters | Rooftop Resistance | SQUASH
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Anti-capitalists gear up for G8 protests
Anti-capitalists have been gearing up for the protests against the G8 Summit with Mayday actions across the country. The focus was on Primark and other businesses profiting from the global slave labour system which led to the death of 700 people in Bangladesh. There were angry protests in central London, Hackney, Lewisham, Birmingham, Brighton and Bristol, with the clear message going out that the disaster was not an accident but the inevitable consequence of the callous capitalist system. Stop G8 is holding another organising meeting in London on May 25 and May 26, before the big week of action in the capital from June 10 to June 14, featuring the #J11 Carnival Against Capitalism.
On the Newswire: Mayday protest in central London | Mayday protest in Glasgow | Mayday protests in Birmingham, Hackney and Lewisham | Mayday protest in Bristol | Mayday protest in Brighton | Squatted social centre in Lewes | Guillotine in Worthing | Oxford Stop G8 meeting | Call-out for J11 | Call-out for week of actionOther links: Stop G8 | Resist 2013 UK G8 Summit | Stop G8 on Twitter | They Owe Us
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SchNEWS: Battle of Bexhill
Update! A week of direct action against Bexhill link road.
“We were caught out and a lot of damage has been done – but people have been amazing and now we've have a set of established tree defences and work has stopped for the day at least. We really need support and all the usual wish-list stuff, tools, tarps, ropes etc. So come and give us a Christmas visit” - Combe Haven Defender
Maps of the planned road (scroll down!) - the camp is at Adams Farm
Anti-road protestors in Bexhill were ambushed by an early start to the tree felling on the controversial Bexhill-Hastings link road this week, but they rallied and a week of constant direct action has put a spanner in the works, with no work reported today (Saturday 22nd). Work wasn't expected to begin until early January but as soon as East Sussex County Council acquired the land (by compulsory purchase) the chainsaw gangs were set to work.
From the newswire: Hastings/|Bexhill anti-road camp needs you! | Help Needed Immediately | Anti-road campaigners high in trees at Bexhill and are prepared to stay | Brighton: Emergency meeting | Second Battle of Hastings: Day One... Protestors 10, Road builders 0 | Protestors Take To Trees To Stop Chainsaws
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SchNEWS 759: Middle Eastern Promise
Egyptian dissidents (along with the masses) celebrated on Friday as Hosni Mubarak finally threw in the towel after the mass protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square, and across the country, refused to abate (and presumably the Americans finally ordered him to load up the plane with gold and go in an attempt to ensure the power structures – and thus their influence – didn't collapse completely). But the Egyptian revolution is not yet won as the military have stepped in, repressed protest and threatened to declare martial law.
From the Newswire:
Libyan solidarity in London | Algerians take to the streets
Bahrain: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Egypt: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
Read first-hand reports from Egypt at Cairo Rising | Occupied Cairo | 3arabawy | Game Over Mubarak
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SchNEWS 754: We'll Fight Them on the Beeches
Last week (see SchNEWS 753) we covered the protests against the sell-off of the Forest of Dean. But the implications of the Public Bodies Bill for the Forestry Commission go a lot further than that. Essentially the Tory’s are planning (in time-honoured fashion) to flog off the family silver and privatise forests up and down the country. The sale is intended to raise £2bn - less than half of one years tax avoidance by Vodafone.
Links: www.saveourforests.co.uk | www.facebook.com/Save-Britians-Forests | www.38degrees.org.uk/save-our-forests | www.saveourforests.co.uk/map-of-forests-up-for-sale | www.handsoffourforest.org
Local campaigns we know about: Staffordshire | Exeter | Nottinghamshire | East Anglia | Gloucestershire
In SchNEWS:SchNEWS 753
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SchNEWS 747: Gorle-Blimey!
Over 3,000 anti-nuclear protesters took part in the blockading of a shipment of nuclear waste into north-western Germany this week. After activists and local communities spent four days blocking them at every turn, the toxic containers finally arrived at their Gorleben destination on Tuesday (2nd).
On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4
In SchNEWS: 2008 | 2001 | 1998 | 1996 |
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SchNEWS 745: Serious Organised Crime
The six defendants in the second SHAC trial were hammered with vicious sentences this week. The harshest sentence was the six years handed down to 53 year old Sarah Whitehead. Sentences for the other defendants Tom Harris. Nicole Vosper, Jason Mullan, Nicola Tapping and Alfie Fitzpatrick ranged from a two year suspended sentence for the youngest, Alfie, to three and a half years for Nicole Vosper. All the defendants also copped lengthy ASBOs, which will prevent them from any further participation in animal rights activism.
On the Newswire:
In SchNEWS: 581 | 586 | 616 | 630 | 652 | 660 | 663 | 666 | 667 | 688 | 738
Links: www.shac.net | www.schac7.com |
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SchNEWS 744: To The Manor Osbourne
Thousands have marched, a government department has been broken into, and a Scottish branch of Lloyds TSB has been occupied by pissed-off pensioners...It must be the (OK, somewhat quiet compared to France) start of the anti-cuts revolt!
On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
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SchNEWS 743: Leicester Is More
A thousand EDL supporters rampaged through the streets of Leicester on Saturday (9th), attacking locals, anti-fascists and police.
On the Newswire: 1
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SchNEWS 742: ITT's Hammertime
Brighton's Smash EDO campaign are holding a mass demo at EDO/ITT on Wednesday 13th October. Anti arms trade campaigners plan to lay seige to EDO/ITT and shut them down for the day.
Info for the Day:: The meeting place for the demo is Wild Park Cafe (directions here) at 10am on Wednesday, but people are being asked to arrive on the evening of the 12th. Convergence space will be available. There will be a meeting about the demo at 7pm at the Cowley Club on Tuesday 12th. There will be a timeline on Indymedia and a twitter feed: @smash_edo
Local contacts for ITT's Hammertime: Birmingham - hammertime-brum [at] riseup.net | Bristol - bristolagainstarmstrade [at] gmail.com | Cambridge - hammertime-cambridge [at] riseup.net | Cardiff - val.swain [at] yahoo.co.uk | Cornwall - kernowaction [at] gmail.com | London - hammertimelondon [at] dsei.org | Manchester - info [at] targetbrimar.org.uk | Notts - alex.dable [at] ntlworld.com | Swansea - d [at] undercurrents.org
Previous features:They Think It's All Over ...ITT Is Now | Smash EDO Solidarity in Nottingham | Hammer Time: The EDO Decommissioners go on trial | Indymedia Coverage of Remember Gaza | Anti Militarists take on Barclays | Support the EDO Decommissioners | Mayday! Mayday! | EDO Smashed | Anti-Arms Protesters Shut ITT | Smash EDO Carnival Against the Arm Trade - Timeline | Carnival Against the Arms Trade | Marie Vesco RIP | On the Verge - The Film They Tried to Ban | Singers Arrested Outside Arms Factory | Smash EDO Action Camp: Shut down the Brighton bomb builders | Lebanon War protesters - Not Guilty! | EDO CORP: 2006 Alternative Report | 2007 Is The Year To Shut EDO Down | EDO MBM Injunction crumbles | EDO MBM desperate to stop protests as resistance increases | Smash EDO Take On The Law | Harassment Law Used Against Anti-War Campaigners | Campaign to Smash Edo | Arms company shut down
Links: ITT's Hammertime demo page| Smash EDO |Target Brimar| Decommisioners
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SchNEWS 740: No Borders Camp, Brussels
No Borders Camp 2010 in Brussels kicks off this Saturday (25th) til the 3rd October, so get yourself to the continent to make a start on creating a world where no one is illegal. Among the objectives of the camp are the denouncing of European migration policy; showing the links between this policy and the structures of capitalism and repression; the blocking of Brussels' deportation system and the organisation of an autonomous safe space for the voices of migrants and activists to be heard.
On the Newswire: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
In SchNEWS:1Links:www.noborderbxl.eu.org
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SchNEWS 739: Tesco Check-Out
In fantastic victory for the local community, Tesco have withdrawn their involvement from the Lewes Road Community Garden development plans.
On the Newswire:1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6
In SchNEWS: 738 | 732 | 729 | 727 | 680
Links: www.lewesroadcommunitygarden.org
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SchNEWS 734: Grassroots Struggle
Yet another independent festival has been cancelled after a concerted campaign by bureaucrats, nimbys and the fun police.
The Grassroots Feastival is a small volunteer run event due to take place in Cambridgeshire in early September. Organisers had lined up three days of revelry, running from poetry to Drum 'n' Bass and culminating in a communal banquet replete with juggling waiters.
The Feastival faced determined opposition from the very start. According to one of the organisers, Mooney, when the application process began in January the council made it clear they would do all they could to stop the festival taking place. Martin Ford from the police licensing board went one step further and told organisers, “I'd rather put pins in my eyes than have this festival in my county.”
Links: www.thegrassrootsfeastival.co.uk
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SchNEWS 732: Getting Away With Murder
“After 16 months of waiting, to hear nothing is being done is a complete joke. Today they gave us no hope. This experience has broken our family apart. The DPP has told us there was an unlawful act, yet no charges are to be brought. This is no justice - everyone has failed us.” - Ian Tomlinson's son Paul King.
Ian Tomlinson, a 47 year old news-vendor was killed at the G20 protests in April 2009. His family have waited until now to find out what action the justice system was going to take. The Director of Public Prosecution Keir Starmer stated today (Thurs) that there would be no charges brought against any police officers involved in the death of Ian Tomlinson. This astonishingly bare faced whitewash prompted the director of INQUEST Deborah Coles to say “The eyes of the world will be looking on with incredulity as yet again a police officer is not facing any criminal charges after what is one of the most clear-cut and graphic examples of police violence that has led to death. This decision is a shameful indictment of the way police criminality is investigated and demonstrates a culture of impunity when police officers break the law. It follows a pattern of cases that reveal an unwillingness to treat deaths arising from the use of force by police as potential homicides”
Family Campaign Fighting Fund | Picket of DPP 30/7
Links: www.inquest.org.uk | www.iantomlinsonfamilycampaign.org.uk
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