Urban75 Home About Offline BrixtonBuzz Contact

London Student protests - Wed 8th Dec+ Thurs 9th

where to said:
kettling now reported over
Click to expand...

I just joined twitter, thanks to you.

Looks like the kettling is going to force more links to be forged. What a shame. :D

With school pupils-most age 15-from leeds who were on bridge.missed their coach home,will attempt to stay at one of the uni occupations
Click to expand...
 
I'm way too tired to read all of this thread tonight. All I can say is that I'm proud that we gave such a good account for ourselves, the amount of people willing to go toe to toe with the police was brilliant. Just wait until the workers join us students, we'll fucking have em.

I'm from M'cr uni and the word is that our students that were stranded in the kettle will be staying at the UCL occupation tonight.
 
There was a hilarious bit where the cops tried to drive three horses inbetween where we were (peacefully) stood in Parliament. The cop on the horse kept screaming for us to 'move back' but there wasn't anywhere to go.

Cue the first batch of kids running between horses 1 and 2, laughing as the cop failed to prevent them. As the cops moved the two horses closer, another bunch ran between horses 2 and 3. And so it went on until all of us ended getting through to the other side and the cops had to abandon their daft mission, and all us 'escapees' bonded for a shared moment.
 
killer b said:
is what the guy says on this blog true? maths isn't one of my strong points, and it's late...

http://niaccurshi.blogspot.com/2010/12/students-fees-itll-cost-us-all-in-end.html
Click to expand...

I'm OK with maths, but money makes my eyes glaze over ...

I think it is substantially correct. I think the IFS did an analysis along these lines, but which also includes the massive amounts that government will have to write off from those low paid graduates who will never pay back the loan + interest inside the 30 year timeframe. It concluded that it will cost the government more than it saves. I'll have a dig around for their figures.
 
I just wanted to say bravo to the students... hopefully the start of a mass movement, and that I've also nicked that avatar.
 
This is the only IFS report I can find, and it doesn't really cover it. Might have been a different organisation that did the analysis I'm thinking of.
 
I was there today, it was all pretty chaotic and crazy really, we went straight to Westminster and joined the march which had arrived at parliament square, the cops had their horses around the crowd and were properly edgy as the horses were freaking out. Ended up having the pull back and whilst it wasn't a proper kettle they were trying to seal the square effectively. I didn't want to get kettled so early on so climbed into the church yard and got out that way, through a side gate, then went all the way 'round seeing where the police positions were and trying to get in touch with people.

I think it was fairly effective in some ways their sealing off of westminster, but there were A LOT of protesters all over the place outside, where ever I went... ended up having a look in at the lame NUS "glowstick vigil" thing and whilst their were some interesting speakers it was still pretty shit, top-down dictatorial crap. Yelled for the NUS to be burned with the health-and-safety hazard missing candles n then left.

Only really started seeing the violence and chaos I was hearing about later when it got dark, I met up with people and went back to whitehall to see the kettling etc from that side and see what we could do. Whitehall was open and there were riot police dividing it off from the square, seemed like a lot of horse movements and tings from what I could see and a fair bit of shoving back. Was a bit worried about getting kettled and some people were allowed out so a fair few people started moving back up the Mall but we were then kettled/re-kettled and penned in there into a second kettle. The video of people smashing barricades into the cops and smashing up the treasury all happened there. Saw some serious violence and police craziness going down, it was fucking scary at one point as the police lined all their horses up at the top of whitehall and we thought they were going to charge properly. They battered and pushed everyone back and contained us for a couple of hours before people were allowed out. Some people did manage to break out over a side wall but proper riot thugs went after them clotheslining people and beating them to the floor. I think so many resources went into the central kettling people basically then could start running riot around trafalgar and places, up to oxford street. A friend of mine saw the Christmas tree trying to be set alight, loads of windows smashed and the royal car attacked haha. I had to get a bus and ended up getting out of the kettle and heading for that. People from my uni saw a disabled guy pulled out of his chair, lots of people badly beaten/unconscious/covered in blood, a guy with his head split open and blood squirting out almost and also a girl who was sexually assaulted in the kettle and the police told to fuck off and get back in there along with some children who were also not allowed out. Fucked up.

Was a seriously tense and violence atmosphere around Whitehall, I guess i've not been to many protests but i've never felt an atmosphere quite like that hah, people were properly fed up and going for the police, totally antagonised by being detained, repeatedly smacked and yelled at/intimidated. No idea how the police can claim their operation was a proper success, they had a vast number of police out (3:1 kinda ratio) and were still struggling to contain stuff. The centre was proper carnage though, loads of fire and smoke n noise, was fucking proud of everyone who was there and did loads more than me.

Need much more civil disruption next time IMO, groups all over the place shutting down traffic even more than yesterday, tunnels etc. Thanks to the NUS incompetence, the police tactics and the sheer number of people things were pretty fragmented in a lot of places, but still, felt like a good message was sent!
 
There was some confrontation at the beginning but the police closed the kettle pretty early and most of the damage was done once people were trapped and pissed off at being trapped. Anyone got footage of people using the fencing to attempt to batter down the door of the treasury? :D They would have got in too but cops started pouring into the treasury building to defend it from the battering ram and the people smashing the windows in.
 
I should also say that despite the sterling attempts of the police to piss everyone off (their opening and closing of the kettle was like a cat and mouse game) there was a pretty fine carnival atmosphere in the square for a good few hours. People standing round fires singing, much dancing at a couple of small sound systems, some fine people serving tea, the statues getting dressed up a bit - it was a square of liberated space besieged by a sea of cops. At one corner the angriest were facing the police singing 'You can shove your fucking kettle up your arse, you can shove your fucking kettle up your arse etc' while at the other corner someone was playing a mouth organ to a circle gathered around a fire to keep warm.
 
So can I have a second go at getting an answer.

1. The police should have allowed the protest to go right up to the doors of the HOP ?
2. If they had done so, there would have been no violence or vandalism on the part of the protesters ?
3. Therefore it was legitimate to try to injure the police and commit acts of vandalism. ?

Sorry to be thick.
 
Brainaddict said:
I should also say that despite the sterling attempts of the police to piss everyone off (their opening and closing of the kettle was like a cat and mouse game) there was a pretty fine carnival atmosphere in the square for a good few hours. People standing round fires singing, much dancing at a couple of small sound systems, some fine people serving tea, the statues getting dressed up a bit - it was a square of liberated space besieged by a sea of cops. At one corner the angriest were facing the police singing 'You can shove your fucking kettle up your arse, you can shove your fucking kettle up your arse etc' while at the other corner someone was playing a mouth organ to a circle gathered around a fire to keep warm.
Click to expand...

I like it. :)
 
gentlegreen said:
So can I have a second go at getting an answer.

1. The police should have allowed the protest to go right up to the doors of the HOP ?
2. If they had done so, there would have been no violence or vandalism on the part of the protesters ?
3. Therefore it was legitimate to try to injure the police and commit acts of vandalism. ?

Sorry to be thick.
Click to expand...



The police were physically defending a decision by the lying dogs sitting in parliament to launch an attack on the poorest in society in order to pay for a crisis caused by the rich and powerful. That decision represents an act of violence against the working class and an assault on the dreams hopes and aspirations of a generation. By acting in defence of those making that decision the police become the enemy and therefore violence against them becomes legitimate and right. This is not a game and calls for the victims of those political attacks to peacefully accept them is a call for us to accept defeat.

2. If the demonstrators had gained access to Parliament they would have physically assaulted those illegitimate MPs and attempted to disrupt the illegitimate decisions they were taking. Why not? They are making decisions about our lives and the future of our children and they have no democratic mandate to do so. In the face of their political unaccountability street violence is the only reply. Not only is it morally justified. It is the only possible response and the only thing that they take seriously.

3. For the above reasons. Yes. When baton wielding thugs, with shields and horses act to defend the undemocratic actions of my enemies inside the HOP then they become my enemy.

Hope this answered your questions
 
teeny boppers losing any moral high ground they had according to the press this morning. Even Graeme Swann tweeted taking the piss out of idiot behaviour.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

PR1Berske
Protests - further clampdowns
Replies
21
Views
1K
mihaly
M
stethoscope
London Anarchist Bookfair 2024
2 3 4 5
Replies
147
Views
6K
redsquirrel
R
E
8th October STWC
Replies
20
Views
1K
Jeff Robinson
Jeff Robinson
C
Land Justice Fair-Make London a Commons! July 21st
Replies
11
Views
646
Sasaferrato
Sasaferrato
steeplejack
London Anarchist Bookfair 2023/24
23 24 25 26 27
Replies
800
Views
37K
smokedout
S
Back
Top Bottom