We are current receiving reports from the Climate Camp in the city, that all people are going to be searched to be allowed out, as well as people are told to delete photos of officers from their cameras, under the threat of seizure. Interestingly the joint committee on human rights of the UK parliament has just made a couple of recomendation about policing directly condeming the use of these anti-terror power to police protest. Here are the direct quotes and links.

Numerous reports come in stating the riot police are in the process of attacking the peaceful climate camp. Even in the face of severe and unprovoked police brutality the protestors are maintaining their peaceful protest.

A few snaps of the police cordon in the neighbourhood of the Bank of England.  Demonstrators inside the cordon were busting up a Royal Bank of Scotland branch earlier this afternoon.

The activist group Space Hijackers joined with police to take care of any "bad" demonstrators who might have shown up to anti-G20 protests in the City of London today.  At 10:30 this morning they showed up with a CCTV-equipped armoured vehicle in front of the Royal Bank of Scotland and prepared to defend the building.

Police spoilsports refused their help, conducted a thorough search of the vehicle, and moved them along.  They were later arrested outside News International.

The Visteon automobile factory (owned by Ford) in has been occupied this morning by workers who were sacked yesterday.

Army on standby to avert May Day mayhem’ (Evening Standard, 28/04/2000)
‘May Day rioters train at US camps’ (Evening Standard, 18/04/2001)
‘Anarchists to loot Oxford Street stores on May Day’ (Evening Standard, 19/04/ 2001)
‘May Day rioters to face rubber bullets’ (Evening Standard, 30/04/2001)
‘“Black Block” anarchists to hijack summit protests using shields and truncheons’ (Evening Standard, 23/03/2009)

Articles like these have appeared in the Evening Standard for many years in the run-up to contentious demonstrations. It is a ritual in which the hacks working for the Standard have never failed to participate. Indeed, some of the articles cited here are written by people who still work for the paper, notably one Nigel Rosser.

Read More: http://www.lasthours.org.uk/archive/articles/media-lies-against-anarchists-and-their-reasons/

There has been no eviction attempt of the Payn House convergence space and it is open and ready for people. The G20 Meltdown twitter incorrectly reported an eviction at the space.

Dear friends

The University of East London (UEL) was supposed to host an alternative summit on April 1st in the context of the upcoming G20 meeting on April 2nd. Following the media and police hype about possible disruptions to the city, the University withdrew its support for the alternative summit.

Subsequently, management of the University decided to close down the university all together on April the 1st and 2nd, cancelling lectures and closing the library, effectively trying to turn the university into a wasteland in the very moment when the university should instead be up to the task of hosting critical debate and be a hub of creative energies.

As the text of the petition makes clear, this is not just about UEL, but about reclaiming universities and education in these times of crisis.

Please forward widely -- please sign

Online petition urgently /  http://tinyurl.com/cf8jdr

Staff who work for the Welsh Train company Arriva were handed this message yesterday, it is assumed other rail staff across the UK were given similar messages:

On Saturday I participated in a one-man act of civil disobedience that is not yet reported in any paper to my knowledge. To co-incide with the Put People First march through London I climbed over the railings and into the grounds of the Houses of Parliament/Palace of Westminster.

http://www.fitwatch.blogspot.com/

my neighbour bought some fertiliser for her 'garden'. the hotline person was very helpful, although he didn't mention they'd make so much noise getting into her flat at 4am this morning.

With only ten days to go before the massive protests against the G20 summit taking place in London, the Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Human Rights has accused British police of being heavy-handed, misusing counter-terrorism laws and anti-social behavior legislation when dealing with demonstrators.

www.dissidentisland.org

Antifascist groups targeted Lithuanian Embassy this morning (20.03.09) by dropping a banner and leaving posters on the entrance door.

the island

Early on Thursday 12th in the morning there was a minor fire in the derelict part of the block on Rampart Street. After the fire had been put out, several men knocked on the door at RampARTS, claiming to be from the fire brigade. After they had gained entry under this false pretense, they were revealed to be agents of the owner of the building. The proceeded to call the police and evicted the person inside. Without bothering to ascertain that there were no more people in the house, they started to board up the building, placing security personnel at the doors. In the meantime some people managed to climb back into the building, carrying on with the successful occupation. About 30 people are outside and are asking for everyone to join them and show their support for this community.

Reports: 1 | Pictures: 1 | rampART Group | rampART | rampART MySpace |

Venue: The Ship Pub (Top Floor), Holborn, London WC2A 3HP

52 Knatchbull road (entrance on Burton rd, behind Minet library) SE5 9QY.
Nearest tubes : Brixton, Oval, Kennington.
Nearest train : Loughborough junction.
Nearest buses : P5 or Brixton road (3/N3, 59, 133/N133, 159/N159, 415. stop: loughborough road)

Prada 16 - 18 Old Bond Street

the streets of london

Tamar Katz is a 19-year-old Israeli who has refused to serve in the Israeli army. Israel requires all young men and women to serve in its army, and Tamar has served three prison sentences for her refusal.

Please join us to hear more about Tamar's courageous stand, and to show your support to her and other refusers.

brian was assaulted by a worker putting up barriers in parliament square this morning. his hand was bleeding after the attack, but rather than arrest the culprit, or even (in case of doubt) both, they've instead arrested brian, supposedly for the theft of a key! solicitors are trying to find his whereabouts.

The Ship Pub (Upstairs), 12 Gate Street, Holborn, WC2A 3HP

on friday afternoon, brian haw and others saved the life of a tamil protester who set himself alight in parliament square. a police sergeant who saw cctv footage of the incident told them they would be receiving a letter of commendation for saving life and limb. on sunday morning, the same sergeant arrived at 9am to perform an unlawful search of the tents - using force and intimidation against the peace protesters.

Please see below details of the legal case against David Miliband, John Hutton and Peter Mandelson in relation to UK's international obligations to cease assisting Israel because of its attack on Gaza.

You may wish to come on Tuesday 24th February at 11.00 am to the Royal Courts of Justice to show your support for Gaza and protest against the British Government's failure to stop supporting the Israeli aggressor.

On the afternoon of Wednesday the 18th of February over 50 students of the University of East London occupied a lecture theatre in protest over Israel's blockade of Gaza and the recent atrocities inflicted upon the people of Palestine.  We have remained in occupation for over four days now.

Please note that professor finkelstein will be speaking at two different venues on the same day. 

Norman Finkelstein explores the corruption and bias of scholarship surrounding the Palestine-Israel conflict. The talk will examine the growing tendency of pro-Israel commentators to use spurious charges of anti-Semitism to deflect and discredit legitimate criticism of Israel. With historical depth and intellectual integrity, Finkelstein rejects the view that the Israel-Palestine conflict is impossibly complex as a mystification, insists that the Palestinians were ethnically cleansed in 1948, and exposes Israel's damning human rights record.

Apologies for the minor downtime just now (as far as we can tell it was only a few minutes).  Due to the recent server seizure, Indymedia London has been crowded onto a new machine with relatively small disks, and we ran out of disk space, which has all kinds of strange effects on a running website.  We'll be looking to improve the situation in the near future.

political comedy activist mark thomas joined more than a hundred journalists outside new scotland yard yesterday as new laws are introduced which may allow for the arrest and imprisonment of anyone taking pictures of police.

the new legislation is under section 76 of the terrorism act 2000 and a new amendment in section 58a of the counter-terrorism act 2008.

the laws allow police to target anyone who "elicits or attempts to elicit information" about members of the armed forces, security services, or police which is "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism".

sentences can range from fines to up to 10 years imprisonment.

despite some half-hearted assurance from the home office, it is feared that the new legislation will be used to confiscate equipment and stills/footage that the police may feel uncomfortable about.

clearly if used in this way, there will be test cases that may reign back any misuse of these powers, but in the meantime there may be a chilling effect on citizen journalism and further oppression on the streets.

with the G20 meeting planned at the excel centre in april, the continuing resistance to a new heathrow runway, and the failure of government to act against the banks or to stop the blockade of gaza, there are any number of flashpoints for public unrest in the coming months, and any restrictions on free reporting are a danger to true democracy, civil rights and justice.