Civil liberties, justice, crime

The police at Vestas

From Monday evening (20th) to Wednesday (22nd), the police were aggressive and very markedly on the side of Vestas bosses. They were especially hostile on Monday evening, but the aggressiveness continued for a couple of days. In one stand-off, they confronted Vestas worker Doug Green and told him that if he took one step further towards his own workplace, they would arrest him for “breach of the peace” and confiscate the food he was trying to take to the occupiers. Doug stayed put where he was, defying the police, for four hours. Some supporters were arrested for “breach of the peace”, the...

Brutal crisis, brutal police

In the coming months all of us, demonstrations, strikers, anti-capitalist activists need to discuss what we can do to push back the power of the police. We need demands which “deal” with the reality of police brutality... It’s two o’clock in the morning. Over one hundred political activists, congregated in a small community centre, have laid their plans, made preparations and are attempting to get some rest for the day ahead. But things don’t go as expected. The police have arrived, local roads are blocked, neighbours woken and more than eighty arrested. They have no weapons, intend no harm to...

Protest against the police operation at the "G20 Meltdown" demonstration, 1 April

On Saturday 4 April, people marched from the Bank of England to East London to demand a public inquiry into the death of demonstrator Ian Tomlinson during the huge and heavy-handed police operation against the "G20 Meltdown" demonstration on 1 April. On the steps of the Bank of England Assembling near Bank Tube station More photos here , here , and here .

Stockwell shooting inquest begins

At present an inquest into the death of Jean Charles de Menezes is taking place. This occurred over three years ago in the aftermath of the 7/7 ‘terrorist bombings’.

He was shot 6 times in the head and in full view of passengers on a train at Stockwell. Reports have surfaced that the driver was...

De Menezes inquest: Why no accountability?

Anyone who has ever taken part in direct action will have some first-hand experience of why the police force exists. Liberals and right-wingers may argue that battering Climate Camp activists or striking miners over the head with truncheons are unfortunate anomalies; stopping old people from being mugged is the real essence of the role of the police. The reality is precisely the other way around; the police force fundamentally exists to defend, violently if necessary, the interests of the ruling-class; and any useful community defence function it may play is almost a by-product. The thoroughly...

MURDER ON A LONDON STREET

MURDER ON A LONDON STREET Guiseppi's grey head lies where flowing blood Gives it a glass-black glistening halo, bright Against the flagstone in the London night; Thin, old, Guiseppi slumps, exuding blood; Knee-raised pieta, with no Mary to brood That startled eyes glitter without sight, Broken, like a stone-shattered street side light, Or weep that he lies dying on the road. Two savage boys, mad with greed, eager To be enterprising, callous to get on Met him by chance in the dark, going home alone And broke his skull; and blood's wage here is meagre! How much? One hundred pounds his killers...

Scapegoating black and Asian youth

An increase in, and a strengthening of, stop and search powers looks set to become a key part of the government’s “tough on crime” agenda. Currently the police have to state a specific reason for stopping someone and/or searching them in the street. The reason has to be in line with current legislation. They also have to give you form stating exactly why they stopped you and what the outcome was. If the stop and search is conducted under anti-terrorism legislation the police do not have to suspect you of having committed a crime in order to stop you. New Labour have extended a anytime...

Equality before the law! No religious interference!

Archbishop Rowan Williams has proposed that British courts should use Islamic sharia law for family matters among Muslim citizens. It is yet another example of the different religious sects tacitly collaborating to use each others' demands to boost the overall role of religion in society. Similar moves in Ontario, Canada, were defeated by a big campaign. A report by Ontario's former attorney general Marion Boyd had recommended the use of Islamic law to settle issues such as divorce and child custody. Ontario had allowed Catholic and Jewish faith-based tribunals to resolve family disputes on a...

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