Hi! And thanks for visiting fortnum145.org!

Fortnum 145 is a campaign by friends and family to support the 145 people who were arrested and charged following the occupation of Fortnum and Mason on 26 March this year.

So far, we’ve been part shocked, part amused, by the awful media coverage of the events of that day. Media spin about violence and attacks has been undermined by footage actually ta…

http://vimeo.com/22090688

 

Filmed over the day of anti-cuts protest on Saturday 26 March 2011 in London.

(c) Jason N. Parkinson/reportdigital.co.uk

Social Centre Plus, 122 Deptford High Street SE8

Social Centre Plus, 122 Deptford High Street SE8

 

Police admit UKuncut arrests made for ‘intelligence gathering’

A senior police officer has admitted, while giving evidence to MPs, that “intelligence gathering” was one of the main reasons that UKuncut protesters were arrested at the March 26th demonstration.

UKuncut had already accused the Met of politically-driven arrests. This is the first time an admission has been made publicly …

 

Police ask BBC for cuts protest footage

NUJ criticises Met's 'fishing trip', warning journalists of risks being seen as 'information gatherers'

BBC journalists have been asked if they would be willing to hand over unbroadcast footage of last month's march against government cuts in central London, as part of the Metropolitan police's investigation into violence at the demonstration.

The ini…

A lot of people had disturbing experiences in the cells after the Fortnum & Mason arrests, one girl was told she couldn’t use her own tampon because they didn’t know what was in it, another was denied her contraceptive pill, mothers were kept locked up for close to 24 hours while worrying about their children who’d been left with childminders. These experiences shouldn’t be belittled. And it’s imp…

We are not storming heaven, but being marched precariously close to the precipice. The Trade Union Congress is not our tool for emancipation – and neither can it be. Why are we being so skilfully pacified by ‘our’ institutions? We should see clearly how Brendan Barber, Ed Miliband and friends have steered us so neatly toward the cliff-edge. We might crash onto the rocks below, and in the waters th…

How UK Uncut protesters in London refused to be intimidated by political policing and took to the streets again a week after the arrest of 138 activists at Fortnum & Mason. 

UK Uncut accuses police of politically motivated arrests

Campaign group claims police are trying to disband it following arrests at Fortnum and Mason sit-in.

Protest group UK Uncut has signalled its intention to continue occupying high street stores.

A spokesman for the tax avoidance campaigners insisted that they would not be cowed, despite concerns that the Metropolitan police was intent on d…

www.dissidentisland.org

From the way the news has been since Saturday, I expect this week's episode of Gardeners' Question Time to go: "Before answering the question about Mister Dibley's crocus, do the panel condemn the violence we saw in Oxford Street? Well come on, do you? DO YOU?"

By tomorrow the Shipping Forecast will go: "Rockall, gales, South-Westerly, Oxford Street, paint, hurled at windows, force nine, shocking…

"Meet us outside the British Library. That seems appropriate." I'm due to interview two men in their late 20s who were part of the "black bloc" direct action wing of last Saturday's anti-cuts protest. We'd originally agreed to meet at a bar in King's Cross, but they tell me later it was "too media" for their security concerns.

I conduct an interview of sorts, but they are reluctant to tell me muc…

Everybody who took part in the demonstrations on 26 March in person or at home through virtual protest should be proud.

As exhaustion kicks in and the adrenaline levels subside, doubts arise. As politicians and their pets in the media unite in blanket condemnation, it's easy to entertain thoughts of despair.

But the outrage and propaganda from sections of the press and the House of Commons bench…

There were lots of alternatives on offer on last Saturday's March for the Alternative. Alternatives to marching. Alternatives to peaceful protest. Alternatives to non-political policing. Alternatives takes on what the other protesters were up to. Alternative tales of how your day went. And ‘alternative' versions of the the truth in the media the next day. Protesters have had a go at each other and…

There are surprisingly few write ups of Saturday, the March 26th TUC Demo in London. Perhaps many have been feeling the way the ROU has been and is unable to work out quite what happened.

The media portrayal of events has to be expected. Sure, the police seem to have gone on a PR mission to make themselves not look like arseholes. They did a press conference with that lovely, entirely uncrit…

The massive March for the Alternative demonstration and day of action has come and gone, and what a day it was! Indymedia London was busy reporting the whole day and, together with other radical media projects such as the x26radio live streaming, it offered reporting infrasructure so those taking part in the demonstrations, occupations and actions could tell the story collectively in real time, f…

I spent quite a few hours on Saturday, 26 March, walking the streets of London fairly slowly with approximately half a million other people. Some of the time I carried a flag, for a short while I help carry the national banner of my union, the National Union of Journalists (http://twitpic.com/4di1se). When I finally got to Hyde Park, some friends and I walked down towards Victoria Station to …

SchNEWS emergency bulletin on the M26 demos in London

"HUNDREDS of anti-royal anarchists ran riot across central London yesterday, turning a peaceful demonstration about spending cuts into a class war" - Sunday Express

Well - somebody had to do it. - The TUC's glad-hand fest was never going to change the ConDEMS course by even one degree. It was hijacked by anarchists and it deserved to be. …

I’m going to add my personal account of Saturday’s protest to the many that are already out there, and hopefully draw some political conclusions from it. As always, discussion is welcomed and encouraged.

Marching and Uncutting

On Saturday I spent most of the day, more by accident than design, leaving areas just before things kicked off in a big way. This happened at Fortnum and Mason’s, …

Much of what I wanted to say about the fallout from the mass arrests at Fortnum and Mason has already been said in the letter from SolFed to UK Uncut, but in the face of recriminations of the black bloc by many liberal supporters of UK Uncut I thought I would add a voice.

Learning curves are steep. Watching the footage released by the Green and Black Cross of the arrest it was interesting to not…

You might be feeling pretty exhausted right now. Or worried. Or angry. Whatever you're feeling, it's important to know you're not alone in it. We acted as a group inside the store and we are still a group now. And an amazing group at that: a group that stood up (or sat down!) for what we know is right. A group that made decisions together, who stayed together and who left together. Who togeth…

March 26th London Protests - What Really Happened

at 13:00 into the video:

"The Egyptian police were joining their revolution...and what do ours do? They attack us. So please take that into account when you're watching the news, or reading any articles about the 'violent protestors'."

Some exclusive photos of Saturday's protest.

Peace

Reel News say: The second biggest demonstration in British history...but it'll only mean something if it marks the start of a serious battle to bring down this government and everything they stand for. The anger that everyone who was there feels needs to be turned into a general strike as soon as possible.

(Thanks to Reel News for providing a 10 minutes video that glimpses the diversity of th…

Anarchists suspected of attacking banks and shops during the TUC march used extraordinary cat-and-mouse tactics to avoid detection.

Police now believe as many as 1,000 extremists rampaged through the West End on Saturday, causing millions of pounds' of damage to banks, hotels and stores. CCTV footage seen by the Evening Standard shows groups of black-clad thugs stripping off their "uniform" a…

 

Broken Glass; perspective on March for the Alternative Submitted by JoeMaguire on Mar 28 2011 23:11

“The argument of the broken pane of glass is the most valuable argument in modern politics.”

Emmeline Pankhurst, whom Ed Miliband likened himself to this weekend.

We all know this march won’t stop a single cut

None of us really believe that marching from A to B convinces the government of anything much any more, still less the predictable and boring speeches at the end.  Labour didn’t listen to the million or more of us who marched against war eight years ago; and the ConDems won’t listen to us today.

Why should they?  This poses no threat to t…

Estimates of a half million people on the streets yesterday. The 26th of March was a great success but only the beginning if we hope to stop the destruction of decades worth of social progress, save education, social services and the NHS. I am proud of the people this weekend who are willing to stand up for what they believe. Because of them today there is just a little more hope that our resi…

Saturday 26th March saw the biggest wave of protests in the UK since the march against the Iraq war back in 2003. First estimates suggest 500,000 people turned out to voice their opposition to the horrific cuts being imposed by the Tory/Lib-Dem coalition government. The majority chose to show their anger by marching to Hyde Park, others chose to smash windows and throw paint at the businesses who …