www.dissidentisland.org

The metropolitan police CO11 Public Order Operational Command Unit has opened an account on Twitter in order to relay information regarding the forthcoming Camp for Climate Action protest in London starting on Wednesday 26th August 2009.

They say it is designed specifically to relay information to participants of the Climate Camp.

The Twitter channel: http://twitter.com/CO11MetPolice currently has one update, simply saying "This is the official Metropolitan Police Twitter channel for #CO11" The account is only following one other twitter account - the Ministry of Justice http://twitter.com/JusticeUK

CO11 is responsible for public order policing as well as the Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT) who overtly monitor, harass and try to disrupt political campaigners and others.

Several campaigners have dismissed the move by the MET CO11 unit as an attempt  to repair their image after widespread condemnation following the policing of the G20 protests in which one man was killed after being attacked by police officers and countless others injured. The criticism of the policing of the G20 protests came after several reports also criticised the policing of previous climate camp protests, where protestors and members of the press were systematically abused by police officers over the duration of the protest.

The MET have also given assurances that they will employ a "community-style" policing operation for the Camp for Climate Action protest that will limit the use of surveillance units and stop-and-searches wherever possible.

Francis Wright, a Climate Camp legal adviser who will brief police officers on Thursday. "We're pleased they have been forthcoming and have been making some of the right noises, but we have to see how they deliver on the day."

Kevin Smith, who is helping plan the camp, said: "Given the enormous loss of public confidence that the police suffered as a result of the draconian tactics they used at Kingsnorth last year and during the G20, it's no surprise that they would want to be seen mounting a charm offensive at the Climate Camp.

"But we need to see if the authorities are going to take a more reasonable approach to the policing of protest in years to come when there might not be the massive public spotlight that there will be at the Climate Camp."

Following the G20 protests earlier in the year the police have been instructed to review aspects of their public order policing including the controversial use of 'kettling' protestors. They have also issued new guidelines on their powers under counter terrorism legislation regarding people taking photographs of police officers after a string of complaints that they were misusing powers to intimidate photographers and illegally force people to delete images from their cameras.

LARC...and pumpin' out of your stereo

Provocation: Wheelchair-user in Nazi uniform on the Plinth

Trafalgar Square’s Fourth Plinth as part of Antony Gormley’s One & Other project

Artist and activist Liz Crow sat on the plinth in a crowded Saturday night Square on her wheelchair wearing full Nazi regalia to draw attention to a hidden history and the message it holds for us all today

Steps of St Martin-in-the-Fields, Trafalgar Square

The Foundry

86 Great Eastern Street, London, EC2A 3JL

Camp Ashraf solidarity hunger strikers on day 11 outside US embassy, London

Around ten Iranian exiles have been on hunger strike outside the US embassy in London for the past eleven days in protest at alleged brutality by Iraqi forces against Iranian refugees in Camp Ashraf, Iraq, at least twelve of whom have been killed, 500 injured and 26 taken hostage according to the protesters.

There will be a rally outside the US embassy in Grosvenor Square, Mayfair on Saturday, 8 August, from 7pm.

"A British man has been arrested for his role in running one of the internet's oldest file sharing websites.

The man - who started the FileSoup website in 2003 - was taken into custody last week after a raid on his home in Taunton, Somerset, and subsequently released on bail without charge."

FileSoup isn't even a tracker, just a forum were people share links. Once again brit police goes and arrests people, raids their home, and doesn't seem to understand how things work.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/aug/04/file-soup-sharing-tv-movies

Sex workers are routinely portrayed in the media as victims.

At London’s first ever Sex Worker Open University, over two hundred sex workers and allies from the UK and abroad took part in workshops, discussions and actions. 

This film presents an alternative and empowered image of the sex worker: http://current.com/items/90496517_sex-worker-open-university.htm

@ RampART Social Centre
15 -17 Rampart Street, London E1 2LA
(near Whitechapel, off Commercial Rd)

Prosecutors have been asked to consider whether the Metropolitan police officer who attacked Ian Tomlinson at the G20 demonstration should be charged with manslaughter.

The Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) announced today that it had completed its criminal inquiry and handed a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, which will now evaluate whether there is enough evidence to bring charges and whether a trial would be in the public interest.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/aug/04/ian-tomlinson-death-police-charges

A special division of 2,500 police are engaged in an assault on the occupied factory. The cops have removed most barricades and are using aerial ladders to attempt to reach the fortified roof positions of the strikers. 3 helicopters are supporting the cop attack. Hand-to-hand battles are presently occurring and the strikers are fighting back with molotov cocktails. Due to the intensity of the fighting, there will probably be many casualties -- and possibly fatalities.

http://libcom.org/news/ssangyong-occupation-update-august-4-korea-time-2009-04082009

Can the police unlock and operate my phone during a stop and search?

James Welch, Liberty, tells Doveman that, as we now carry so much personal information, it's time to review the police search powers that allow officers to view phone data

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/aug/04/liberty-clinic-stop-search-mobile

Outside Communications House Immigration Reporting Centre

Old Street

London EC1

Outside Communications House Immigration Reporting Centre

Old Street

London EC1

Outside Communications House Immigration Reporting Centre

Old Street

London EC1

1-2pm

Since the G20 protest in London this year the policing methods used over April 1st and 2nd have been dissected and discussed regularly in the media and in parliament. Reports have been produced and protests condemning police violence have been organised. Thousands of words have been published both in mainstream and independent media sources discussing civil liberties and issues around the right to protest. But has anything actually changed?

http://www.lasthours.org.uk/articles/bad-apples-vs-social-change-policing-after-the-g20-protests/

School of African and Oriental Studies (SOAS), Torrington Place, central London

The Big Green Gathering, a fixture in the alternative calendar, was due to return after two years this week. 15–20,000 people were expected to turn up on Wednesday (29th) to the site near Cheddar, Somerset, for Europe’s largest green event - a five-day festival promoting sustainability and renewable energy, with everything from allotments to alternative media. Hundreds of staff and volunteers are already on site, and its cancellation comes just days before gates were due to open. Organisers, most of whom work for nothing, are gutted. One told SchNEWS “We are so disappointed not to be having this year’s gathering – it means so much to so many people”.

A last-minute injunction by Mendip District Council, supported by Avon and Somerset Police, put the ki-bosh on the entire event - citing the potential for ‘crime and disorder’ and safety concerns. This was despite the fact that the festival had actually been granted a licence on the 30th of June. According to Avon and Somerset police’s website “[We] went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure this event took place.” This is of course utter bollocks.

Read full article: http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news685.php

Last Saturday, 25th July, activists gathered outside Dalston Kingsland shopping centre, for a demonstration against the army showroom which recently opened there. By 1.30, around fifteen people had assembled by the main entrance. Two activists from Disarm DSEi, who had been inside the building looking for the demonstration, decided that they would exercise their right to peaceful protest inside the shopping centre. Unfortunately, the police and security guards seemed to have no interest whatsoever in facilitating this right. Read full report and see photo set.

Disarm DSEI website | DSEI on Twitter

Demonstration held to highlight migrant situation in Calais.

Dateline: ‘Victory to the Vestas Workers Occupation’ Solidarity Demonstration, Department of Energy and Climate Change, No.3 Whitehall Place, London, UK, 18:00, Wed 22 Jul 09 – Scores of sane people protest against the insanity of the UK’s first ever Energy and Climate Change Minister Ed Miliband spouting pious promises on greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Parliament while allowing the UK’s only wind turbine factories to be scrapped on a bosses’ bean-counting whim.

More pics of London protest 1 and 2 | Photos of Vestas factory occupation | Vestas situation update

YouTube video shows roadside ambush on mayor over lack of funding for rape crisis centres in London.

Campaigners say Boris Johnson failed to spend £744,000 promised for female victims of sexual violence

Direst action = Result, Only I predict a marked reluctance for politicians to embrace the cycling culture...

See video and article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/jul/21/campaigners-johnson-rape

Following a call from No Borders groups in London and Brighton a group of people demonstrated outside London's French Embassy on Monday 20th to protest the repression and planned mass deportations of migrants living around Calais, France. See full article for pics and background information. More reports 1 and 2.

More Info: Calais Migrant Solidarity | Calais No Border Camp June 2009 | Video: After Sangatte, Europe's Untold Refugee Crisis.

Earlier in the year it seemed to accepted almost as fact that this summer would see waves of unrest and street riots. But half way through summer none have happened. Peter Hogan takes a brief overview of the reasons why people haven’t come out onto the street in any great numbers.

Full article: http://www.lasthours.org.uk/articles/what-happened-to-the-summer-of-rage/

Protest at the Indian High Commission, London, against the state terror unleashed on the people of Lalgarh, a village in West Bengal, India, who refused complying with a government sanctioned corporate landgrab of 5000 acres of land uprooting them from their homes and depriving them of their livelihood.

The Royal Court of Justice, Strand, London WC2

Demonstration at the French Embassy in London, Monday 20th July

London NoBorders and No Borders Brighton are calling for a demonstration outside the French Embassy in London on Monday 20th July to protest the repression and planned mass deportations of migrants living around Calais, France. (see  http://london.noborders.org.uk/node/196 and http://calaismigrantsolidarity.wordpress.com/)

Where: French Embassy, 58 Knightsbridge London SW1X 7JT  (nearest tube Knightsbridge)
When: Monday 20th July, 12.30pm

Rampart Social Centre

Rampart Street

Whitechapel, E1

The Apple Tree pub, 45 Mount Pleasant, WC1 (Russell Square, Farringdon, Kings X or Angel tube).