The little told story of the 20 or so people arrested at the end of the Nov9 student anti-cuts demonstration. They were prevented from dispersing, not allowed to head to the OccupyLSX occupation at St. Paul's, kettled, then all arrested - before being taken to Farringdon tube, where they were all processed filmed and released having been de-arrested and told they could not return to the area for 2…

Good attempt to record the stages of the police operation against Occupy the London Stock Exchange, which saw repeated cordons, kettles, pushing, shoving, arrests, police dogs, surveillance, and provocation on the first day of the occupation.

Text:  Arbolioto Twitter and Arbolioto Blog  in association with Newsreel Democracy joined forces to produce a team of 10 photographers, videographers and o…

Police kettled determined protesters, mainly young students, for the best part of an hour after the main June 30th strike marched through London. Press photographers were also getting hassled by police which were not following ACPO guidelines at all. London, UK, 30/06/2011.

Green & Black Cross legal observers took the footage inside Fortnum & Mason and handed it to UK Uncut, which passed it on to the Guardian 

Campaigners for the tax-avoidance protest group UK Uncut have claimed senior police officers "tricked" them into a mass arrest after a peaceful protest inside Fortnum & Mason's in London on Saturday.

 

Department store Fortnum & Mason on Piccadilly was occupied by protesters this afternoon amidst the action. Police where overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of people and became kettled themselves causing brief clashes. London, UK, 26/03/2011.

Following the use of bluetooth by police forces around the country in awareness raising schemes, the Met Police intend to encourage protesters to activate bluetooth on their mobile phones at the TUC March for the Alternatives demonstration in London on March 26th. This will allow the MET police to broadcast messages direct to marchers mobile phones. For background see astracasting.com

Alternativ…

Metropolitan Police in Court over Protest Tactics

Judicial review of G20 Climate Camp containment and dispersal operation held in Crown Court



Days before mass demonstrations against cuts, the Divisional Court scrutinises the legality of kettling and use of force at G20 . The three-day judicial review of the Metropolitan Police’s handling of the Camp for Climate Action at the G20 protests is to sta…

How are the Metropolitan police preparing for this weekend's mass demonstrations against public spending cuts? Hugh Muir investigates

- Met's assistant commissioner, Lynne Owens

- Chair of the Met Police Federation, Peter Smyth

- Green party London assembly member Jenny Jones

- Liberty's legal director, James Welch

- Val Swain from Fit Watch

- Vikram Dodd, the Guardian's crime correspondent

http://ww…

2nd March 2011: The Network for Police Monitoring, a network of experienced protester support organisations , today slammed the decision of the TUC and Liberty to work alongside the Metropolitan police in deploying legal observers on the TUC march to be held on the 26th of this month.

Legal observers have traditionally been fiercely independent of the police, a position which is seen as essential…

Published today, Fight Back! features reports, analysis, images, reflections and overviews on the UK's winter of protests, and the start of a movement against fees and cuts.

From a 15-year-old UK Uncut activist to a rebel Lib Dem peer, via kettled students and forward-thinking commentary - Fight Back! captures both the spirit and arguments of revolt, bringing together the best reportage and a…

For the second time now CO11 Met POlice are handing out leaflets at a demonstration describing the agreed route  - only this time it comes with a nice placard graphic saying Right to Protest!  Is this a joke?

Katy Clark, Labour MP for North Ayrshire and Arran, has tabled an Early Day Motion calling for a ban on the use of ‘kettling’ by police as a way of managing crowds at protests or demonstrations.

Public condescension for the technique has become much more vocal in recent months since the use of the technique at student fees demonstrations last year, with cases such as Alfie Meadows bringi…

At today's Save EMA demonstration in central London, the police have been handing out leaflets which tell protesters what they can and can't do, or rather what they should and should not do!!

For the first time they are specifying the route of the march as agreed to by the organisers, and caution that "Attempts by demonstrators to deviate from the agreed route may result in officers stopping or s…

Police demand new powers to stop and search terror suspects

Police have asked the government for a new counter-terrorism power to stop and search people without having to suspect them of involvement in crime, the Guardian has learned.

Senior officers have told the government the new law is needed to better protect the public against attempted attacks on large numbers of people, and are hopeful t…

Crush of student protesters on Westminster Bridge compared to 1980s stadium disaster

A senior doctor has warned that police risk repeating a Hillsborough-type tragedy if they continue with tactics deployed during the recent tuition fee protests.

The anaesthetist from Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, who gave medical assistance to the protesters, said that officers forced demonstrators into such a…

Friends have started to say something they have never said before: I'm too frightened to protest

Friday, 17 December 2010

So now we know. When our politicians complained over the past few decades, in a low, sad tone, that our young people were “too apathetic” and “disengaged”, it was a lie. A great flaring re-engagement of the young has take place this year. With overwhelmingly peaceful t…

Council leaders reacted hysterically to the protest outside Brixton Police station on Tuesday 14th Dec. Management emailed all council staff to warn of the protest and potential riots that could result. They even included a request that people leave work early to avoid the area. Nothing can better illustrate the council’s disconnection and fear of the local community.



The meeting and p…

the unelected coalition defies public opinion and pushes through the cuts vote, tearing the lib-dem party into power-hungry leaders versus backbench rebels. the media and police spin on today's events has gone into overdrive to misrepresent the causes of violence and property damage. here are a few key alternatives to the mainstream lies, and some pics from the day.

VIDEO Who's Afraid of Photographers?

Legendary photographer David Hoffman talks on the changes in policing of protests over the years and the role and treatment of photographers. It ends mentioning the change in policing seen after the G20, but cautions against a swing back in response to the austerity cuts - a bit prophetic following the recent student demonstrations.

Houses of Parliament 27th Oc…

Thousands of students and austerity cuts protestors took to the streets of London on DayX2 in another national day of action [uk reports]. Refusing to be stopped by hundreds of police officers [1,2] they took their protest mobile, marching miles across the capital city chanting slogans, chased by a police force playing catch up [report + pics]. Later having returned to Trafalgar Square clashes saw…

police forced students to change their plans quickly this afternoon. although organisers had furnished and agreed the route of their march from trafalgar square to parliament, within minutes of the start, police began attempting a kettle of peaceful demonstrators. in response, students changed their plans and ran around central london while police tried to contain them. eventually the focus was ba…

It's the coldest day of the year, and I've just spent seven hours being kettled in Westminster. That sounds jolly, doesn't it? It sounds a bit like I went and had a lovely cup of tea with the Queen, rather than being trapped into a freezing pen of frightened teenagers and watching baton-wielding police kidney-punching children, six months into a government that ran an election campaign on a platfo…

If I kept a diary yesterday, this is what it'd look like...

This is not an exhaustive report. There were so many of us and everyone has their story to tell (why don't you tell your story?). So basically, they want to take away the right to education, and we won't let them. It was brilliant seeing all those people turn out, 13, 14 year old school kids amongst them. We started off at ULU. Everyone's really angry. How do those who got an education get to mess…

as night fell, police used mounted police to charge crowds containing children and peaceful protestors. more arbitrary cordons led to scuffles, and a few by now very angry protestors stopped some traffic and broke a couple of windows. those kettled were gradually let out, some having spent ten hours imprisoned.

police trawled through trafalgar square and whitehall rounding up any youngsters, including children (many of whom showed no signs of being part of the protest), and forcing them into a kettle where they were then imprisoned for hours.

thousands of protestors were held for up to ten hours against their will for daring to protest on the streets of london. a police van left in the centre of a kettle became the focus of ire, and offered the press their iconic riot images. the question must be asked whether this was orchestrated.

Although the cops claim to be providing loos for protesters now, it seems the 2 portaloos aren't enough for 4-5000 people. Protesters get creative and set up their own public toilets.

Protesters say "It is cold as fuck" and claim they have been forced to burn copies of the Socialist Worker to keep warm. Policing true to the motto: "If you want to protest, we'll make you protest untill you get hypothermia!"

FIT are filming as usual.