UK Public sector cuts Newswire Archive
Free Francis Fernie. Resist political sentencing
12-07-2011 16:48
This man, pictured in one of Operation Malone's witch hunts, handed himself in, gave admissions in interview and plead guilty at the first available opportunity. In mitigation his barrister explained he travelled to the demo because felt strongly about the cuts, did a lot of voluntary work and was due to start university in September.
Murdoch Empire and Tax Avoidance in UK
11-07-2011 13:16
Adding more fuel into the rising cesspool of the UK's political classes - politicians and powermongers of the main news media conglomerates, is, of course, Murdoch's non-payment and active avoidance of millions of pounds worth of tax. Squaring the growing total crisis of legitimacy of the ruling regime with the current financial crisis and the vast and unfair programme of cuts might make political sense right now.J30 West Midlands round up
08-07-2011 19:38
Thousands of public sector workers across the West Midlands joined other unions around the country for a day of action against government proposals to increase pension contributions and retirement ages.US Teen In Jail 18 Years For Accidental Shooting When He Was 16
08-07-2011 15:21
Kenny Richey an innocent Scot was held on death row in Ohio for many years beforecitizens achieved his release. Now there is focus on another unjust imprisonment
in Ohio.
American Jonathan Shue: In Jail 18 Years in Ohio for An Accidental Shooting When He was 16
Ohioans Have Paid $720,000 For The Incarceration of An Innocent Man.
Hereford Heckler 19 & 20 now online...
07-07-2011 10:45
The April/May and June/July copies of the Hereford Heckler are now online...J30 Strike against the cuts. Nottingham Events 2
05-07-2011 00:55
Thursday 30th June 2011
On June 30th, members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), National Union of Teachers (NUT), Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and University and Colleges Union (UCU) took part in coordinated strike action. This is the first major coordinated strike against the cuts and various activities for the day included a march, rally & speeches etc ......
a busy timetable of events on the day:
Early morning onward – pickets outside workplaces
8am – Notts Uncut. Meet up at Nottingham Railway station to feed pickets and engage in solidarity action.
8.30am – Unison demonstration against major cuts to social care provision – assemble County Hall, West Bridgford.
11am – NUT, ATL, UCU, PCS joint strike march – assemble from 11am, Forest Recreation Ground (Goose Fair site).
11.30 am – Marchers leave The Forest, march down Mansfield Road, on to Milton Street and then in to the Trinity Square.
12 noon/12.30pm with the arrival of the march in Trinity Square. Speakers, stalls, refreshments and more in Trinity Square. There will be face painting and other activities for younger people.
13.30pm – March continues along Burton Street, South Sherwood Street and Parliament Street to the Albert Hall just off Derby Road for speakers and debate on the way forward for the dispute. There will be live music provided by Banner Theatre, Trade Union speakers and an opportunity to contribute from the floor. Ending 3pm approx.
J30 Strike
http://www.j30strike.org
Notts SOS
http://www.nottssos.org.uk
Notts Uncut
http://www.nottsuncut.co.uk
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
J30 Strike against the cuts. Nottingham Events 1
04-07-2011 23:55
Thursday 30th June 2011
On June 30th, members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), National Union of Teachers (NUT), Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) and University and Colleges Union (UCU) took part in coordinated strike action. This is the first major coordinated strike against the cuts and various activities for the day included a march, rally & speeches etc ......
a busy timetable of events on the day:
Early morning onward – pickets outside workplaces
8am – Notts Uncut. Meet up at Nottingham Railway station to feed pickets and engage in solidarity action.
8.30am – Unison demonstration against major cuts to social care provision – assemble County Hall, West Bridgford.
11am – NUT, ATL, UCU, PCS joint strike march – assemble from 11am, Forest Recreation Ground (Goose Fair site).
11.30 am – Marchers leave The Forest, march down Mansfield Road, on to Milton Street and then in to the Trinity Square.
12 noon/12.30pm with the arrival of the march in Trinity Square. Speakers, stalls, refreshments and more in Trinity Square. There will be face painting and other activities for younger people.
13.30pm – March continues along Burton Street, South Sherwood Street and Parliament Street to the Albert Hall just off Derby Road for speakers and debate on the way forward for the dispute. There will be live music provided by Banner Theatre, Trade Union speakers and an opportunity to contribute from the floor. Ending 3pm approx.
J30 Strike
http://www.j30strike.org
Notts SOS
http://www.nottssos.org.uk
Notts Uncut
http://www.nottsuncut.co.uk
____________________________________________
ALAN LODGE
Photographer - Media: One Eye on the Road. Nottingham. UK
Email: tash@indymedia.org
Web: http://digitaljournalist.eu
Member of the National Union of Journalists [NUJ]
____________________________________________
"It is not enough to curse the darkness.
It is also necessary to light a lamp!!"
___________________________________________
<ends>
A New Declaration of Independence, July 4, 2011
04-07-2011 18:29
Hundreds Of Thousands – Public Sector Workers Pensions Strike
04-07-2011 13:31
report and pics from j30 events in london
02-07-2011 17:55
from the use of 150 officers to remove a small peaceful occupation camp from trafalgar square early in the morning, through the use of tsg officers to conduct targetted snatches, searches and dodgy arrests throughout the day, to the use of lines upon lines of police to clear the whitehall area later in the afternoon, the j30 protests were characterised by repressive, stupidly expensive, and unnecessary shows of force from the authorities.
from the eviction of trafalgar square onwards, it was clear the met believed their own hype, trumpeted in the evening standard the previous evening, that j30 would turn into riots, however despite continual provocation, it turned out a very relaxed and english affair, and of the 30 arrests reported, many were of children, some clearly unlawful, and most pointless.
an NUJ journo told me he'd watched a 14 year old boy being arrested for arguing with the police when his friend was pulled out of the crowd for wearing a hoodie. i spoke to another young man who had a bandana round his neck. it was stolen from him by police under the guise of section 60, even though he had at no point used it to cover his face. he was given no receipt or paperwork. because he was wearing black, a smart pair of jeans and a t-shirt, he had been stopped and searched on three occasions by mid-afternoon, and on one of those, taken down a side street and roughed up in the process.
as the march passed charing cross station on the strand, a team of tsg were pulling people from the crowd, mainly black and asian along with some white teenagers. a muslim girl was told to remove her religious face covering, and a 12 year old boy, on the protest with his mother, a teacher, was handcuffed and hauled away when a search found a small paint canister in his bag. as he was taken into the station, a crowd of concerned protestors (made up of a real cross-section of ordinary people) surrounded and shouted at the police. although this crowd was angry, their anger was vocal not physical, but it gave the excuse for some of the tsg thugs to become violent. i watched one in particular, constable webb, U3543, assault several people in succession, coming up from behind and without warning pushing people out of the way. when i tried to report the assaults to other police, i was of course met with stony silence, despite the fact that his actions were not dissimilar to those of pc simon harwood, now finally facing a manslaughter charge years after iain tomlinson died.
aside from the anti-cuts protest, a small group from avaaz.org were staging a protest outside the department of culture media and sport on the day the vulture secretary, jeremy cunt, was due to announce in favour of rupert murdoch's controversial bskyb monopoly bid.
meanwhile, down in parliament square, a squad of riot police in their silly blue baseball caps were busy conducting searches on passers-by, including a journalist with a press card, while a forward intelligence photographer took close up face shots of some of those searched, even though nothing incriminating was found.
outside the queen elizabeth conference centre, a spanish-style 'people's assembly' formed, and an open mike was made available to speakers, while uk uncut organised football and other games.
a group of black-clad anarchists marched past the centre and acted as pied pipers to some of the crowd who followed them up whitehall, where they pulled over the central line of metal barriers in a token act of defiance. dozens of police trotted along behind them, and inevitably at the trafalgar square end of the road they were met by a large police presence, and became cordoned in by the officers behind them.
there were a few scuffles at this point, and several overly-violent arrests. it really seemed as though the police were hyped-up for violent confrontation, and every attempt was made to inflame the situation, including tsg officers striking out at press photographers as they dragged their arrestees out of sight behind police lines across side streets.
i also saw a man snatched by plainclothes police who looked much like your average football hooligans. they used plastic wires to tightly restrain his wrists behind his back even though he appeared calm and offered no resistance.
in protest at all this violence, a small group of people, some of whom i recognised as part of an explicitly peaceful campaign group, staged a sit-down protest at the north end of whitehall. more people joined them, until around 30 were sitting in the road, despite a short wet rain shower. police numbers built up, tsg officers also moved in, and among the ensuing confrontations i again saw card-carrying press being pushed around and refused access, as the sitters were picked up and moved to the pavement.
then lines of police, sometimes 5 or 6 thick, began pushing people down whitehall, and then left down horseguards avenue to the embankment, leaving the upper end of whitehall clear of all except police.
as most of the protestors had left the area, i joined a small group, including several colourful clowns, who decided to stage a good-natured anti-cuts protest outside 'boots' and 'tesco' opposite westminster. their singing and banners managed to close the 'boots' store ten minutes early, and their boisterous song outside 'tesco' amused and interested many passers-by, several of whom agreed not to shop there after speaking to the protestors.
small shops across the nation, killed by tesco's monopolisation
small shops across the nation, killed by tesco's corporation
Not One Cut Until the Bankers Pay!
02-07-2011 08:12
Tuesday 5 July 2011, 5:30pm
Not One Cut Until the Bankers Pay!
J30 actions come to Cambridge (part 2).
01-07-2011 23:05
At one point, I saw it stretch from one end of East Road to the other, with still enough of a head to snake it's way around the corner onto Burleigh Street.
Inqlab Against the Cuts! A Benefit night for destitute asylum seekers in Brum.
01-07-2011 22:34
The Con-Dem government's austerity drive is due to wreak even more devastation on the lives of some of the most oppressed and marginalised people in the UK. Come and show your support for a small human rights advocacy charity, working to improve the lives of thosewho have fled persecution and been left in destitution by the UK's racist immigration policies.J30 actions come to Cambridge (part 1).
01-07-2011 21:08
In Cambridge this was represented by many schools closing, a skeleton staff at Cambridge Jobcentre, and picket lines in front of Cambridge Regional College and Anglia Ruskin University (see pictures).
30th June - Manchester Protest
01-07-2011 14:55
Thursday 30th June. Over 3,000 protestors marched through the Manchester city's streets today, causing widespread disruption, with thousands of school pupils across Greater Manchester kept home from school forcing parents to stay off work or scramble for childcare places.
Criminal courts ground to a halt, hundreds of Jobcentre and immigration interviews were cancelled, and roads in central Manchester suffered rolling road closures as
Protesters claimed the strike, with four unions representing teachers, lecturers and civil servants, would herald months of industrial action - with millions of strikers out on the streets unless the government backed down on public-sector pensions reforms.
Helen Andrews, a Greater Manchester spokewoman for the National Union of Teachers (NUT), warned: "This is the beginning of the fightback.
"Today's strike will be the catalyst for a deepening and widening campaign."
And Sue Bond, vice-chair of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union, told members gathered in Castlefield: "Nationally we have had 750,000 on strike today to defend not just our pensions but our jobs and the services we deliver and we are proud to deliver.
All Images: © Stillshooter - 2011
#J30 Critical Mass, from Brixton to Deptford
01-07-2011 13:55
We joined the J30 Critical Mass at the Brixton Oval. Prior to that we had been for a while visiting the different pickets in the Brixton area, and we quickly realised that this strike wasn't going to be confined to a ritual Unions march in central London. We stood for a while in the Lambeth College picket in Brixton Hill where we noticed the constant shows of support by the honking cars passing by. In a way these early morning honks put sound to the widespread support this strike had from the 'british public', no matter what the corporate media try to put down our throats nor how the government and 'opposition' try to demonise it.
At around 9.30am, the Critical Mass that had left the Elephant and Castle over an hour earlier, arrived at the Brixton Oval just opposite Lambeth Town Hall, where a picket was being set up as the preparations for a later rally were going on. The mass then left Brixton southbound down Coldharbour Lane in a detour of south London. It passed Camberwell, Peckham and eventually arrived at the picket at Deptford's Town Hall blocking the traffic for 30 minutes or so. The picket then turned into an impromptu demonstration with people on foot joining the cyclist's mass, which again, stopped the trafic of the New Cross area for quite a while. At this point several police vans turned up following closely the demonstration, and, from then on, sticking to the Critical Mass for the rest of the day.
The Mass then made its way towards central London with a 'police scort' of no less than 6 police vans, and eventually it joined the end of the main Unions demonstration. The mobile sound system kept playing a mixtiure of reggae, drum'n'bass, dubstep as well as pop, rock and punk tunes for the whole journey and until the batteries ran out as it got to Parliament Square.
Here there's another report, and here a live broadcast from a cyclist whilst on the move. And below some pics from the first part of the journey:
.
Public sector strike hits across Britain
01-07-2011 08:54
The demolition of social housing?
30-06-2011 22:45
A look at far reaching changes in social housing policy being introduced by the UK government.#j30strike in pictures
30-06-2011 21:55
It was a nice day out, sun was shining on the strikers for most of the time. Except for the moment when the police decided to clear that sit in protest on Whitehall outside McDonald's (which had its own line of coppers). Section 60 was used as carte blanche to stop everyone who fulfilled a certain set of criteria: young, (mostly) male, dressed in black, (and apparently in a group with at least one person from BAME background - at least so it seems to your insignificant observer, but others have commented on this too). It was a clear tactic of intmidation, which hopefully won't work.
Generally the turn out was ok, the atmosphere was happy but unexcited, and everything was nice and colourful.
Police lines were also randomly selective about letting people leave the protest or not. If they liked your face, you were free to go where you please, if they didn't then your freedom to protest turned into the obligation to protest, whilst your freedom of movement was swiftly stripped. Obviously the coppers on the lines were asked to make a judgment and were helplessly overwhelmed. I wonder what kind of orders they get in situations like that? "You can let individuals through, but make sure the march stays on the route"? So if they decide you are "the march" you aren't allowed to pass? Or a more explicit: "You can let everyone through who wears a suit or has shopping bags, but if they look like protesters, make sure they stay in the designated protest area"? Or maybe the much simpler version (overheard at a police line on a different occasion) "Let them through if they're the right ones"?
There was a whole lot of stereotyping and profiling by coppers on the front line happening, and maybe it's time for some public enquiry into how they are trained to do - what exactly?
#J30 strike: stop search and arrest pics
30-06-2011 21:55
Here's just a few of the snaps from today's london stop and searches and arrests. For sure the cops were really going for people with aggressive interventions and some rowdy push and shove when nothing at all had even happened, nothing. Best bit though was the solidarity shown by people at Charing Cross when they went for the young lads in the main march. Sure someone will have it on video - great solidarity. And a great day - biggest strike for years - c'mon people don't let the Daily Mail and co win the spin war.
+ Police PR (re-trumpeted by some shit tv stations) were also doing their best to say that everyone they were targeting were 'outsiders' not connected with the march. Huh. So like now if you're young or wearing a kafiya or wearing black you can't be concerned with the cuts and marching in solidarity with the strike!?
See also:
List of some of the tweets about stop and search and arrests:
http://chirpstory.com/li/1910
Post: http://my.firedoglake.com/kgosztola/2011/06/30/uk-police-stop-search-citizens-striking-to-prevent-possible-hooliganism/
Others:
http://wire.jwarren.co.uk/protester-with-water-pistol-handcuffed-on-whi
http://wire.jwarren.co.uk/wpc-straddling-a-protester-to-arrest-him-on-w
http://wire.jwarren.co.uk/police-searching-and-photographing-j30-protes
Early searches:
http://www.demotix.com/news/739473/masked-protesters-questioned-under-section-60-june-30th-strike
We're all in this together...
