Freedom Press » Demonstration

N9 New police tactics: Undercover cops active and aggressive

dean — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 14:32:45 +0000

We saw a change in police tactics for the Nov 9 student demo in central London. Apart from the tightly regulated route of the march (each sidestreet was blocked by a small army of well defended barriers) police had introduced a new and potentially dangerous element into the policing of the demonstration – the extensive and transparent use of undercover police.

Previously police would simply deploy FIT [see here] at strategic points on the outskirts of the demo to identify “potential troublemakers” who if arrested would be by uniform cops away from the main march.

The Nov 9 student demo saw numerous undercover police (dressed, badly, as protesters) within the body of the march extracting often violently those they want to arrest. This change of tactic may be due to a new top cop in charge, may be a one-off strategy to prevent another Millbank or maybe the first outing of a new and potentially far-reaching approach to policing major demonstrations.

Blocs protecting the integrity of the march are common place on mainland Europe, indeed it is an essential feature. They act as a collective political presence, but also ensure the dynamic between protester and police remains intact – both in opposition and in terms of penetration. In the UK we have no such understanding of the dynamics of blocs and as such often distance ourselves from them. (NB blocs does not just mean ‘black bloc’, a black bloc when active is an entirely different proposition taking on an entirely different dynamic)

This must, and will, change if we are to maintain any autonomy within the policing conduct and regulations of a demonstration.

This new police tactic, if it continues, will need anarchists to acknowledge our collective role on demonstrations. Any anarchists who continue to attend demonstrations as individuals, as opposed to a politically constituted element, will have to learn pretty sharpish a new way of thinking.

Nov 9 was a classic example of a police demonstration. The new and dangerous twist is the police are now an active and embedded part of the march itself.

A warning of things to come.

Violent arrest of a protester during #Nov9 by a large group of undercover cops:

See N9 Anarchist Bloc website for report backs from various sources about the day: http://n9anarchistbloc.wordpress.com/

Nov 9 Day of Action events

dean — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 14:35:15 +0000

Student march and demonstration

Assemble 12 Noon
University of London Union ULU
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HY
» MAP
» Route of march

The route will take the march from its starting point on Malet Street, through Trafalgar Square and up the Strand, before passing St Pauls’s and rallying at Moorgate Junction. This follows the decision to march on the City, rather than to Parliament, in the midst of fresh financial crises and Occupy LSX.

Website: http://nov9.strikenow.org.uk/
Background information: http://anticuts.com/2011/10/28/november-9th-national-demo-route-confirmed-as-students-prepare-for-the-autumn-of-discontent/

♦

Electricians day of action

Rank and file construction industry workers called for a day of action against the attack on pay and contracts conditions.

1st Demonstration
7:00am
The Pinnacle building site (Bishopsgate Tower)
22-24 Bishopsgate
London EC2N 4BQ
» MAP

2nd Demonstration
11:30am
The Shard
St Thomas Street
London SE1 9SY
» MAP

3rd Demonstration
1:30pm
Blackfriars station construction site
Queen Victoria St
London EC4V 4DY
» MAP

Background information: http://jibelectrician.blogspot.com/
Unite union: https://unitetheunion.org/sectors/construction/unite_for_me_workers/campaign_updates/national_day_of_protest_-_wedn.aspx

♦

Taxi drivers protests

London taxi drivers will be holding a day of protest over attacks on the licensed taxi trade, organised by RMT union:

Demonstration
2:oo – 4:00pm
Headquarters of TFL (Transport For London)
42-50 Victoria Street
London SW1 0TL
» MAP

followed by general cab drivers demonstration at
4:00pm
Trafalgar Square
London WC2N
» MAP

Background information: http://www.rmt.org.uk/Templates/Internal.asp?NodeID=151765

♦

Occupy London permanent protest camp

OccupyLSX Teach-out
10:30am
Russell Square
London WC1B
» MAP

General Assembly
1:00pm
Occupy London
Steps of St Paul’s Cathedral
London EC4M 8AD
» MAP

Website: http://occupylondon.org.uk/

Chilean Student Uprising

dean — Sat, 02 Jul 2011 16:02:15 +0000

On Thursday 16th June tens of thousands of Chilean students took to the streets of the capital Santiago to demand education reforms in what was described as the biggest demonstration since the return of democracy in 1990. Called by Chile’s University Students Federation amongst others, an estimated 70,000 young people across the country participated in the mass protest demanding the end to the privatisation and profiteering of education, more scholarships, and increased public support for secondary schools and universities.

About 80% of the one million university students attend private, for-profit universities created under Pinochet’s military dictatorship in the 1980s. In contrast the state run schools are underfunded and neglected. During the demonstration there were violent clashes with police who used tear gas and water cannons on the crowd and at ten students were arrested by police.

On the same day, high school students reportedly seized 250 public schools across the country, calling for an end to all private schools and greater government support to low-income family students, and an increase in the budget for public colleges and universities. There were also student protests in Arica, Iquique, Valparaiso and other cities across Chile.

Many of these same high schools helped lead the famous 2006 “Penguin Revolution” (so called because of the penguin-like appearance of high school uniforms), in which a nationwide high school student movement united up to one million students in a protest for educational reform under the government of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. Many of the current demands echo those made in 2006.

Article originally appeared in Freedom #7213
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We salute their indefatigability

dean — Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:16:16 +0000

Photo: Pennie Quinton

March 26th: Make it a good ‘un

dean — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 01:50:05 +0000

There is an estimated half a million people who will be on the streets of London today to protest at the government’s plans to cut essential public services, local government spending and jobs in the public sector as they continue with their ‘austerity measures’ in an attempt to balance the books.

Anarchists will be out in force too, involved in the many and varied activities, blocs and occupations happening throughout the day. We hope the actions today suitably reflect the anger, the frustration and the contempt felt by ordinary people towards a government in power, and the economic system that underpins their every move. Every banker, every politician, every member of the ruling class should, as of today, begin to look over their shoulder. They are the problem, we can only be part of the solution.

Freedom wishes everyone a safe and successful day whatever you get up to.

Action Map March 26th demo

dean — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:32:45 +0000

Freedom March 26th Action Map

A – Education Bloc feeder march
ULU, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY, 10am
Directions
Called by
London Student Assembly
What began as a simple bloc has turned into a full blown feeder march due to the massive positive response. Get there early for a pre-demo breakfast. In terms of energy and imagination definitely the place to be.

B – South London feeder march
Kennington Park, London SE11 4AU, 10.30am
Directions
Called by
Lambeth SOS
Southwark SOS
Lewisham Anti-Cuts Alliance
Along with the education feeder march, it will be the biggest ‘unofficial’ bloc on the demonstration. South London is being hit particularly hard by the Tories cuts and the increasing anger and resentment is being turned into effective local action. Destined to be one of the most passionate and vocal blocs on the march.

C - TUC march start point
Victoria Embankment, Assemble 11am
Forming up between Waterloo Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. The large numbers expected mean there is certain to be an extended wait until it is allowed to move off.
http://marchforthealternative.org.uk/

D – TUC Rally
Hyde Park, advertised to begin at 1.30pm and go on until 4.30pm.
In addition to the stage and giant screens, there will be refreshment facilities and extra toilets. As well as private security. Ed Miliband, New Labour leader and ‘same cuts but slower’ doctrine will be speaking. A robust response to Miliband’s politicking is expected.
http://marchforthealternative.org.uk/

E – Occupy For the Alternative
Oxford Street, 2pm
UK Uncut. A massive simultaneous shut down of banks and tax dodgers on London’s Oxford Street – flash mobs, bail-ins and occupations along the length of Europe’s biggest shopping street. Then at 3.30pm there will be a massive final convergence, ready for a spectacular mass occupation of a secret target.
http://www.ukuncut.org.uk/

F – Pink and Black Bloc meet up
Soho Square, London W1D, 10am
Called by
Queer Resistance
Queer Resistance is a group of queers and allies from across the UK who have come together to fight the cuts! They want to march in solidarity with other anti cuts groups and ensure a visible queer presence and invite people from across the lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) communities as well as friends and allies to join with them.
More info: Pink and Black bloc facebook page

G – Freedom Bookshop
Angel Alley, 84b Whitechapel High St, london E1 7QX
Directions
The oldest anarchist publishing house in the UK, the longest running anarchist newspaper and one of the few remaining political bookshops in the country.

H – Dissident feeder march
Cable Street, E1, 11am
From the East End to the action taking back the city streets en route to revolution departure points on the way.
http://riseupeast.wordpress.com/

» BLOCS

Radical Workers’ Bloc
Called by
South London Solidarity Federation
Anarchist Federation
It will form part of the South London feeder march from Kennington Park (see above) and probably the biggest and most visible anarchist presence on the demo.

Militant Workers Bloc
on the Education bloc feeder march
Called by London anarchists
Join us on the Education Bloc FOLLOW THE SOUNDSYSTEMS // AVOID THE KETTLE // OCCUPY OXFORD STREET 2pm //
They have over 150 red and black flags to hand out, banners and noise!
More info: Militant Workers Bloc facebook page

Anarchist Bloc
on the Education bloc feeder march
Promoted by
Anarchist Federation
Anarchist Federation (London) will be joining with radical students on the Education Bloc feeder march, at ULU (See above). They are asking people to bring red and black anarchist flags and banners.
More info here: http://london.indymedia.org/events/7813

Pink and Black Bloc
Soho Square, London W1D, 10am
Called by
Queer Resistance
Queer Resistance is a group of queers and allies from across the UK who have come together to fight the cuts! They want to march in solidarity with other anti cuts groups and ensure a visible queer presence and invite people from across the lesbian, gay, bi, trans and queer (LGBTQ) communities as well as friends and allies to join with them.
More info: Pink and Black bloc facebook page

Buggy Bloc
Victoria Embankment Gardens, 10am
Meandering from Embankment to Hyde Park. Babies and buggy boarders, spread the word… kids against cuts being seen and heard!
Joining the myriads to oppose the squandering of our future
More info: Buggy bloc facebook page

Women’s Bloc
Cleopatra’s Needle, 10am
Supported by
Women Against the Cuts
Southall Black Sisters
Million Women Rise
Eaves Housing for Women
London Feminist Network
Calling on all women to stand in solidarity together against the cuts that will affect the most vulnerable in our society the most. Come dressed in purple and green with pots and pans or anything else to make a lot of noise! There will be a direct action following the march, with more details to be announced soon.
More info: Women’s Bloc facebook page

The Bigger Society Soundsystem
Playing the soundtrack to the day – chosen by you. It’s our revolution and we’re dancing to it.
More info: The Bigger Society Soundsystem facebook page

Black Bloc
Not a group but a tactic whereupon individuals come together wearing all black attire for maximum anonymity. Key elements are: collective action and mobility. A facebook page has been created declaring “meeting point will probably be outside one of the stations near victoria embankment like temple station precise details will be given nearer the time”. You have been warned.

Book and Black Bloc
More info: Book and Black bloc facebook page

» GROUPS AND NETWORKS

Legal Observers
Not technically a bloc but there will be hundreds of legal observers from the radical movement present on the march to document the unlawful behaviour of the police and help protesters with legal advice (including handing out bust cards). These are committed political activists and unlike the Liberty police-sanctioned observers are not in collusion with state agencies.
Legal Defence Monitoring Group
Green and Black Cross
FITwatch – monitoring police surveillance tactics on demonstrations

FITwatch flashmob
Flashmob! – block FIT cameras from taking your own photo (entirely legal) or other’s photos (more dubious legality) using banners/flags/placards/newspapers and get noisy – bring over soundsystems, horns, whistles or just get gobby.
More info: FITwatch flashmob facebook page

IWW autonomous rally
Called by London IWW
Directions
Park Lane fountain, Hyde Park, 3.30pm
Deliberately timed so that people can attend as many as possible of the various other actions going on during the anti-cuts protests on March 26th. IWW called this rally as a means of bringing together like-minded groups, campaigns and individuals to advocate militancy in the present class war and a new future to be built on principles of solidarity, direct democracy and equality.
More info: IWW autonomous rally facebook page

Shut Down London
Coordinated roving flash mobs promising to “stop traffic, run wild, make as much noise, get as much publicity”.
More info: Shut Down London facebook page

Network X
A national network of activists and radicals formed out of the Manchester gathering in January. Yet to promote their actions, activities for the day although they do say legal advice, food and shelter will be available.
http://networkxuk.wordpress.com/

Resist26
An umbrella network (and brainchild of arch prankster and academic eccentric Chris Knight) for various events and activities and media spectacles planned throughout the day, including the mass occupation of Hyde Park Stay 4 One Day. Visit the website for the full list of actions.
http://www.resist26.org/

Article originally appeared in Freedom #7206
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Sukey picking the wrong side?

dean — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 02:56:25 +0000

Sukey intends to run its application on the March 26th demo

Below are the minutes taken of a meeting between representatives of Sukey, the ‘anti-kettling’ phone application [where people are encouraged to provide information during a demonstration via their phone about situations developing which can then be relayed to and accessed by other protesters] and Metropolitan police. Also included is a letter between Sukey and an individual officer.

It should be noted that Sukey have already stated on their website “If you come along to demonstrations intent on rioting, causing damage, fighting cops, or just generally being an anti-social idiot then Sukey is not for you” under their ‘Warning for idiots’ http://www.sukey.org/idiotwarning
We allow the reader to make up their own minds which side Sukey are on.

-Notes on the meeting between Sukey and the Met police -

Important notice: These minutes are in a draft state and are not for publication. The accuracy of the content has not been agreed by any of the parties involved.

These minutes are not a verbatim copy of the discussions. They contain all main points as raised but may miss minor details and may not be phrased exactly as originally discussed. Please highlight line by line where there are any issues and explain them before returning to us. Could you please also correct any title/rank by your name.

Date: 28/1/2011
Location: Room 713, New Scotland Yard
Start Time: 1240 PM

Present:
Two representatives from Sukey [Freedom note: The names and intials of the individuals in the original text have been replaced with simply Sukey]
Emma Stroud – Press Officer (Metropolitan Police Service)
Sgt Mark Bradford (Metropolitan Police Service)
Constable Jim McAllister (Metropolitan Police Service)
Supt Chief of Staff David Hartshorn (Metropolitan Police Service Public Order Branch)
Supt Julia Pendry (Metropolitan Police Service Public Order Branch)

Minutes
Pendry was unavailable for the early part of the meeting and those present agreed to start without her.

Sukey explained that he’d like to minute the meeting and proposed that minutes would be sent to the Met to confirm veracity/avoid misunderstandings, and after agreement would be made public on the Sukey Website.

Hartshorn & Stroud Agreed to the proposal.

Sukey Gave a short slide presentation setting the agenda, explaining what Sukey seeks to achieve, who is behind it, and what the Sukey teams objectives were for the meeting. He explained that Sukey would not be available for the police to use for intelligence gathering, but was being offered as a communications tool that would allow the met to better communicate with demonstrators, which in turn would provide the met with more ‘soft’ options in dealing with issues arising during the demonstrations. He went on to give fictional examples of the types of messages that Sukey would want to transmit (described as ‘helpful to the demonstrator’) and those that Sukey would not transmit (described as ‘didactic or failing to provide information the demonstrator would find useful’).

Sukey completed his presentation with some facts and figures that demonstrated the reasons for his confidence of successful takeup of Sukey for the student protests scheduled for the 29th. He stated that the UCL Occupation twitter account (managed by members of the Sukey team) had over 4,500 followers, many of whom would be attending the protest, and that in the ten hours since the Sukey website had been launched it had attracted over 6,000 visitors, the vast majority of whom went on to view the website in depth. He stated that the original target of 2,000 users at the start of the protest and 4,000 by the end had now been revised upwards to 4,000 at the start rising to 5,000+ by the end.

The slide presentation given by Sukey is attached to these minutes as sukey1.odp

Sukey demonstrated the application using the Roar walkthrough from the Sukey website (http://sukey.org/tutorial)

Pendry joined the meeting during the walkthrough.

Sukey Explained the difference between Sukey Roar and Sukey Growl – He explained that Sukey Roar is the ‘smart phone’ version and that Sukey Growl runs on any phone capable of sending and receiving SMS text messages.

Sukey summarised the part of the meeting that Pendry had missed and discussed how important it will be for the Sukey userbase to understand the form and content of any meetings the Sukey team have had with the met police. He explained that it was important to the Sukey team that discussions between Sukey and the met were kept open and transparent to Sukey users and that minutes would be published on the Sukey website for this reason.

Pendry asked whether the Sukey team were hoping to reach agreement in time for the fees protest on the 29th.

Sukey confirmed that it was one of the objectives.

Pendry explained that the decision making process on such issues could not be resolved in time for the 29th but reaffirmed that any help with communications is of interest to the met.

Stroud agreed with Pendry and added that messages must be helpful not didactic.

Pendry stated that reaching more people has to be a good thing,

Stroud said that the ability to reach people in a specific area is also likely to be useful.

Hartshorn asked what the name “Sukey” means and why had it been chosen.

Sukey replied that “Polly put the kettle on and Sukey took it off”.

Pendry stated that although the met prefer the word ‘containment’, they recognise that among demonstrators it is known as kettling and so we may as well use the term “kettle” for the meeting.

Hartshorn asked what benefit Sukey brings over the existing approach of using the met’s existing twitter accounts. He also asked if Sukey were looking for the met’s endorsement.

Sukey said that Sukey were not seeking endorsement from the met, and that Sukey addressed a need that would ensure its success without the need for such an endorsement. He then voiced his opinion that Sukey would immediately attract a far wider audience than the met could hope to achieve alone.

Hartshorn asks how process might work from the point where the met decide what message they want to send to the point where the message was broadcast.

Sukey explained that the met would not have direct access to the system but that messages could be relayed to a contact in Sukey’s back office team.

Pendry asked what Sukey’s users think of Sukey talking to the met and whether a sample had been polled for opinions.

Sukey answered that they have concerns but the Sukey team hoped and expected to work these out. Sukey also said that a joint press release might be part of the way in which the concerns were addressed.

Stroud explained that such a press release would be unlikely in the immediate future.

Pendry pointed out that any message the met might want to send through Sukey must not be modified in any way.

Sukey proposed that a set of guidelines for messages would be agreed (eg Must be perceived by the reader as helpful), and suggested that any proposed message sent to the Sukey contact would be checked by a Sukey team member against those guidelines. Messages that were adjudged by the Sukey team to have passed the criteria would be immediately broadcast, messages that didn’t pass would be returned to the met with an explanation of why the message was rejected, for the met to reword and resubmit.

Pendry asked for the opinion of others in the room.

Hartshorn stated that it appeared to have good potential.

Hartshorn and Stroud stated they were wary of committing to an opinion without first taking time to think things through in detail.

Hartshorn suggested that the Sukey team picks up and rebroadcasts C011 tweets for the fees protest.

Sukey stated that the Sukey team could certainly pick the C011 messages up and offered to ask the technical team whether it was possible to make the infrastructure changes required to integrate them into the Sukey feed in time for the protest.

Sukey proposed that the met use the #sukey tag in their tweets which would enable the existing Sukey setup to detect and rebroadcast messages as a minimum for the 29th

Bradford stated that it was possible but unlikely.

Hartshorn and Bradford Asked if Sukey will be used for other demonstrations.

Sukey explained that after the 29th the intention is to release the software as ‘open source’ for anyone to use.

Pendry asked who will control the software once it has become open source.

Sukey explained that there will always be a group controlling the system and helping others to maximise benefits of using it – but that they are unlikely to be involved in the day to day running of the software for every demonstration at which it is used. He gave an example of the Sukey team having already received requests to configure the system for use in Egypt and said that if it were to be used in Egypt then it would probably be hosted and operated by Egyptian nationals.

. – I don’t remember this bit very well but it’s probably key for the met – any chance you could expand on it? Sukey

met reviewers – if you have better recollection of below then please amend/expand. Otherwise I’ll keep it in the published minutes with a note to the effect of: “The minutes are a little unclear here but the gist was a discussion that explained how messages received by Sukey from new contributors are read by the Sukey team and ranked and scored prior to transmission until the point where that contributor has been adjudged to meet the Sukey “Not A Troll” threshold, after which their incoming messages are routed through to publication without intervention”

McAllister – Asks if we would you be uncomfortable sending out messages to certain groups

Hartshorn – Asks if it depends on the message

Sukey – Explains that we do not let all messages through

Sukey – Explains that we use a scoring system that ranks sources on trust

Pendry – Explains that the met would like to be trusted and that if something external to a demonstration happens that affects safety they would like it communicated as effectively as possible

Hartshorn asked how Sukey is funded.

Sukey explained that it isn’t funded and that the team are all volunteers and give of their time freely. He explained that Sukey has, for example, been donated free web hosting and London office space to work from.

Pendry stated that although full agreement is not achievable for the 29th it would be foolhardy, in the event of an emergency (eg building collapse) to not use Sukey to communicate evacuation instructions.

Sukey agreed that we must be able to communicate in case of emergency at a minimum

Sukey mentioned Sir Hugh Orde’s comments in yesterday’s Guardian which stated that the met are falling behind on the use of social networking and the internet and Sir Hugh’s statement that things must change.

Hartshorn and Pendry commented that they know the met is behind on using social networking, and that they want to move ahead but in the right way. The met believe that they may have made mistakes in their approach in the past.

Stroud asked how Sukey would deal with a confrontational situation.

Sukey answered that he did not know at this point, but that one of the Sukey team’s objectives is to try to preempt and isolate confrontational situations, keeping moderate protesters ‘sensible’ and uninvolved through the use of good communications.

Pendry explained that the met is aware it has communications issues and is falling behind the times. She stated that sometimes communications can be embarrassing as sometimes by the time the wording has been approved and readied the communication is already out of date, the spokesman knows it’s out of date and yet still has to stick to the approved wording.

Pendry asked if Sukey will be used in Manchester on the 29th

Sukey answered that it was the original intention to have it available for both but the Sukey team ran out of development time and so are not yet ready to work with simultaneous demonstrations.

Hartshorn asked about Sukey’s use at smaller scale regular demonstrations such as UKuncut

Sukey answered that it is not likely to be of use in such a situation and that communications must be accurate.

This bit doesn’t seem to hang together – is something missing or in the wrong order? – Sukey
No. The topics kept changing at this point in the meeting, I have listed them in the order they came up. – Sukey.

Sukey described his perception of a @CO11metpolice tweet on the 9/12/10 that had stated toilets were available in a containment area. The information was untrue and so helped fuel mistrust of the demonstrators in C011 tweets.

Hartshorn explained that demonstrations move rapidly and that although operational communications are fast, messages sent out to the public are slower than they would like

Pendry described an interview she gave for Sky on 9/12/10 in which she had said that protesters could leave via Whitehall . By the time the information was broadcast the information was no longer correct and the next opportunity on Sky to correct it was an hour later

Sukey explained that Sukey would not suffer from these problems and would be more responsive as people in the crowd will be able to see that the situation has changed and will communicate the changes back to the Sukey application in real time.

Pendry agreed and stated that slow communications have caused problems in the past.

Pendry asked how many people follow the met on twitter.

Sukey replied roughly 3500

Hartshorn stated that twitter was a big success for the met at Notting Hill Carnival

Pendry restated that at a minimum we have a way of communicating on the 29th

Sukey and Hartshorn swapped contact details.

Pendry stated that they should follow us on twitter and use Sukey on the 29th, and asked if they followed UCL occupation on 9/12/10

Sukey stated that they did.

Sukey stated that Sukey is not just for those in a demonstration but for those following from outside

Bradford asked how quickly Sukey can put information out from the time that information is received

Sukey answered that there is no latency.

Pendry asked how information coming in is prioritised

Sukey explained that Sukey prioritises senders based upon trust, not on the content of messages. Certain people known to Sukey are highly trusted and their messages are transmitted without review. Others have their earlier messages verified and earn trust until the point where their messages are also forwarded without review.

Stroud described a recent issue on twitter concerning the misunderstanding of a message about a “shooting” on Oxford street

Pendry agreed that the shooting tweet caused chaos which the met had to deal with

Bradford asked if messages from the met will be sent out verbatim or modified

Sukey said that they will be verbatim, but if the messages, in the opinion of the Sukey team, do not meet the agreed criteria they will be returned unbroadcast with an explanation.

Pendry commented that they would want the people prioritising messages to be as unbiased as possible, to ensure vital met messages are not impeded by any individual’s political views.

Bradford suggested that if it goes well a police officer could sit in with the Sukey team

Pendry suggested that we should keep in contact on the 29th and that too many messages can also cause problems.

Sukey said that a police officer sitting in is unlikely and that Sukey ranks messages on trust to stop inaccuracies going through

Pendry explained that the met are very careful about putting out messages as they do not want inaccurate messages to go out. They must have all the facts behind them

Stroud said that the met can only put out a full message with full facts

Sukey asked if everyone thought we were at a suitable point to wrap up the meeting

Pendry agreed and said that full cooperation is not possible for the 29th as it must be considered at a higher level Pendry asked what will happen with the notes of the meeting

Sukey explains that we want meetings to be transparent to our users to ensure Sukey retains their trust so they will ultimately be published on the Sukey website. He stated he would send a copy to the MPS to check before publication

The meeting finished at 1405 PM

———————————————————————————————-

Dear David

I’m so pleased that yesterday’s protests went well. On behalf of all of the team at Sukey we’d like to thank you for including our hashtag in your tweets and for ensuring that so many of those tweets were informative and helpful for the protesters.

Sukey had a good day yesterday. We had a few technical teething problems, most of which were resolved during the day, and had to deal with a few unexpected situations as they arose. But team Sukey coped well.

On the stats side, the website had 324,572 hits on Saturday, which comprises people viewing for general information, people submitting reports, videos and photos, and people updating the various phone apps. As at midnight on 29th/30th January there had been 17,793 unique visitors to the website since the site went live. We had just over 2,300 users accessing our live services from within the London protest route, and a further 4,800 accessing the live service from all over the world. We received and processed just short of 4,500 inbound messages from protesters and supporters. We’ll have more analysis in a few days.

We were caught a little off guard by some of the splinters and by the impromptu switch to the Egyptian embassy and we will be making a team decision as to whether or not (or how) our communications, logistical and news support for protesters should continue in such a situation in future.

We will be meeting to agree and formalise a future policy for this type of situation. The policy will be published on our website.

On the day, we decided to continue to provide support for the breakaway demonstration at the Egyptian embassy, and I’m pleased we did – because it led to one of the situations that demonstrated how effective our co-operation could be.

You’ll be aware that at one point the crowd had incorrectly surmised that a kettle was about to be formed outside the embassy. We were receiving large numbers of angsty reports, photographs and videos that showed deep police lines forming at either end of south street , the arrival of riot containment equipment, and reports of overheard messages from police officers requesting containment. Our message summarising this news back to the protesters was followed shortly after by the receipt of a reassuring message from the C011 twitter account stating that ‘police were happy with the protest’ which we picked up and rebroadcast; immediately after the rebroadcast the police lines thinned and the protesters calmed.

Yesterday was a great success for all of us. Please can you extend our team’s ‘thank-you’s to your team.

Please find below our minutes from Friday’s meeting. You’ll note that they read a little confusedly in two places, for which I apologise. I have forwarded them to you exactly as we have them, together with a preview of how I intend to annotate the confused parts in the published copy.

Please could you arrange for somebody to review the minutes and let me know asap if you want to make any corrections or if you’re satisfied that they true and accurate. We’d like to be in a position to publish them towards the end of the week.

We’re looking forward to providing similar support for the March 26th protests, and we’ll possibly run some trials for some smaller protests before then – please let me know if you’d like to explore working with us further.

Regards

Sukey
www.sukey.org

ps I’m sorry for the delay in sending this mail. xxx, one of the Sukey team members who I wanted to review it and as gentle and level headed an individual as you could ever hope to meet, has had to have it read to him after apparently receiving a direct blast to the face of Met Police issue pepper spray whilst peacefully protesting outside Boots in Oxford Street today (Sunday). You met xxx on Friday – and I’m sure you’ll want to join me in wishing him a speedy recovery.

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Previous Sukey press releases:

March 26th: Tactical Briefing

dean — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 21:09:57 +0000

A useful guide to official preparations for March 26th ant-cuts demo

The Cops
On 10th November the cops had 18 PSU’s. On 9th December they had 81. We expect a “maximum effort” from the Met police on this one. That means all the TSG – 25 serials and at least half of London’s level 2 trained police on duty. They’ve asked for mutual aid so we should see a variety of southern counties forces on show as well as the City police and British Transport police (BTP).

If other big events are anything to go by they will plaster the streets with yellow hi-vis level 3s. So 650 level 1, 1000-1500 level 2, 3000+ level 3 trained cops. Horses are likely to be out in force, at least four serials (weirdly it’s 14 each for the nags) were out on Dec 9th which may be close to the practical limit as the Met has 120 ponies in total.

In a change to the previously announced line up Commander Simon Bray head of Westminster Borough BCU will be Gold and Chief Superintendent Adrian Roberts from Croydon, Silver. Commander Bob Broadhurst will now be Media Spokesperson. Chief Superintendent Ian Terry who has recently taken over from Ian Thomas as head of CO11 or Mick Johnson, still Chief at CO20, will probably be “Bronze Reserves”. Prizes will be given for id’ing other Bronzes. We predict starring roles for David “summer of rage” Hartshorn and Julia “climate camp” Pendry. Chief Superintendent Alex Robertson should head up the City Police contingent.

The size of the demo makes an all out attack on protesters along the lines of 9th December unlikely but the pendulum has swung very much back to ‘robust’ policing two years after Ian Tomlinson’s death. Doubtless the cops are cross about the cuts too but will be quite prepared to take it out on us so the Bronzes will have to work hard to keep them on the leash. Terry may well chose to act quickly against the “known troublemakers” before they can reach targets or join the rest of the march.

The TUC
Having invited Stop The War to give them advice on how to organise a big demo they rejected their ideas point blank. It doesn’t help that the march organiser has only been in post a couple of months. Given the size, say 500,000 there’s likely to be logistical meltdown. Route Stewards are in orange bibs with senior stewards in pink. Route stewards have been told to do nothing except try to keep people moving and report trouble to the Pinks. The Pinks will be working closely with the cops. As for Hyde Park the TUC have hired private security to guard the stage and save Ed Milliband just in case anyone remembers what the last Labour Government did. Anyone in need of a laugh can do worse than read the TUC 10 tips for enjoying the march.

Law
Section 44 is back as section 47A. Ignore it. The cops will be using section 60 for searching without reasonable suspicion. 60% of arrestees on the student demos last year were unknown to the police so the temptation for data mining is high. We don’t know if they will try gathering names for anti-social behaviour under section 50 but if anyone fancies being a test case.. “don’t tell him Pike!”

Liberty
Shami’s sellouts have decided to play at legal observing again. They last did this in London on the 2003 George Bush visit. Then they helpfully wore yellow hi-vis the same as the cops so folk could tell they worked with the fuzz and didn’t bother with bust cards (Christ knows what bollocks they might put on one). This time they will be in green bibs. They will be working with the cops and have a someone at GT. Green and Black Cross/ Legal Defence and Monitoring Group will have a joint team of 50+ legal observers in orange bibs. They are not working with the cops – don’t hit them. There will also be a team of action medics to whom the same applies.

Where’s the action?
The main march is on the standard route Embankment to Hyde Park. The cops will want to keep one side of the road clear for vehicles so it will be fucking slow. Aside standard flashpoints at Parliament and Downing St look for breakaways and short cutters especially going up through Mayfair towards Oxford St.

Of the feeder marches Malet St is the bookies favourite to kick off. The militant workers bloc aims to occupy Oxford St at 2pm. Sound systems are promised and the slogan “avoid the kettle” used. UK uncut are also aiming for Oxford St. Oxford Circus may be out to recapture the record for longest kettle (7 hours 30 mins for Mayday 2001) from Whitehall’s 24th November effort of 9 hours.

The south London march starts at Kennington Park just like the Poll Tax demo of 1990. The key is which bridge it heads for. Further east is likely to be more interesting with Westminster and Waterloo making the cops life far harder than Lambeth or Vauxhall.

Action Map to plan your day

Weather: The Met Office (no not the pigs) says “Saturday looks like being rather cloudy with a little rain or drizzle, mainly in the east”

ACRONYMS of the STATE:

PSU
Police Support Unit. A unit of coppers who have undergone public order training. A unit consists of one inspector, three sergeants and 18 constables. Instantly recognisable as being able to hold a baton above their heads, extend an arm and shout ‘get back’ all at the same time. TSG are full time PSUs.

TSG
Territorial Support Group. Riot police. Scum in uniform. Never held to account for their actions. They get away with murder on demonstrations. Literally. TSG thugs are recognisable by the prefix U on their shoulder number coding.

There is a three level grading system of police public order training.

Level 1- The Riot Squad
Most experienced in public order training and are usually full time PSUs. Receive regular training every five weeks on all aspects of public order situations.

Level 2- The Scuffle Squad
Level 2 same kind of training as Level 1 coppers but only receive two days public order training twice a year. Generally clueless and unpredictable when things get volatile, which makes them particularly dangerous

Level 3- The Plod Squad
All coppers are considered level 3 trained as part of their normal police training. They are not allowed to use shields, helmets under health and safety rules.

BCU
Basic Command Unit. Over glorified militaristic term used for a police area. The place where coppers have their tea and biscuits basically.

CO are the various Central Operations specialised units of the London Met police

CO11
Public Order Operational Command Unit (which includes the incompetent and financially draining Forward Intelligence Teams (FIT)).

CO20
Territorial Support Group. TSG. Thick and Stupid Group. The Spice Girls.

GT
Metropolitan Police Special Operations Room, where all the available, and functioning, cctv cameras are linked up to and monitored from a central location. Usually where the Gold Commander can be found. GT is its call sign.

TUC
Trades Union Congress (or Tories Unofficial Cops depending where you stand). A federation of 58 affiliated trade unions that employs full time bureaucrats with little or no connection to the labour movement. Brendan Barber the current general secretary, for example, joined the TUC in 1975 having spent precisely one year in a real job. TUC has a particularly poor record of standing up to Tory governments.

Section 44
A stop and search power under the Terrorism Act. Previously used against people on demonstrations which has been completely discredited in the European courts, who ruled it unlawful.

Section 60
A stop and search power under the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. When a S60 order is in place a copper can only “stop any pedestrian and search him or anything carried by him for offensive weapons or dangerous instruments”. They do not need reasonable suspicion to carry out the search but you are NOT required to give any details (name address, what you were doing, where you were going etc) as part of the search. When asked for your details simply say no.

Section 50
An obscure law under the Police Reform Act 2002. It allows the police to ask for your name and address if they reasonably believe you to be engaged in “anti-social behaviour”. Refusal to give details under these circumstances may be an offence. See the our guide to when you have to give your name and address – here

March 26th: Action Map

dean — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 11:38:07 +0000

Freedom March 26th Action Map (will be updated as and when we get new information)

» BLOCS

The Bigger Society Soundsystem
Playing the soundtrack to the day – chosen by you. It’s our revolution and we’re dancing to it.
More info: The Bigger Society Soundsystem facebook page

Book and Black Bloc
More info: Book and Black bloc facebook page

» GROUPS AND NETWORKS

Shut Down London
Coordinated roving flash mobs promising to “stop traffic, run wild, make as much noise, get as much publicity”.
More info: Shut Down London facebook page

No Borders demonstration: In Pictures

dean — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:18:15 +0000

Images from the Life’s Too Short to be Controlled demonstration through the streets of central London on Saturday Jan 23rd organised by No Borders against immigration control and surveillance control, both inextricably linked to the forces of the state and the freedom of movement.
All photographs taken by, and courtesy of, Jules Mattsson.
If any of these photos are used could you please credit the photgrapher Jules Mattsson who can contacted at: julesmattsson[at]googlemail.com