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Weds 1st April: G20 protests - discussion, reaction and chat

editor said:
They'd brought along their own kitchen and toilet tents, and people were going around picking litter up. If the police have gone in with their size tens kicking, then there *has* to be an outcry.
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I hope no-one got hurt, especially the kids.

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Beeb back on. BoE. "protestors still penned in, they can't go home" Phalanx of police

Switch to R. Hall at Bishopsgate, talking about the day good natured until 6.30 when things changed radically, police changing tactics, but calmed down in last 30 minutes or so. Interview with one of the bunnies being all positive and fluffy
 
Just got back after a very long day. Arrived with the Silver Horse/London Bridge lot and headed towards RBS, police trapped us in 10 metres from one of the other lots of protesters, stupid idea which caused an infinite amount of hassle and failed to stop anyone from getting to the bank anyway. Lots of pushing and squashing and then the riot boys came out, batoned us back, to and throw for a while. Then it all calmed down a bit.

Went off to find a drink and ended up with whatshisname, the suspended lecturer, carrying one of the horses to their van. Then headed off to the Alternative G20 Summit, which was shit, next to no one there, no press at all for their 'press conference' and despite rambling about occupying the uni nobody moved to do a thing while I was there. Saw Tony Benn and Mark Thomas though, always nice, plus a mob of teenage 'Anarchists' who turned up and behaved like twats, which was depressing.

All in all a nice, if fucking exhausting day. And no doubt it achieved bugger all but for a while there it felt as if we might've done good in turning up, which is something.
 
cesare said:
I hope no-one got hurt, especially the kids.

------------------------

Beeb back on. BoE. "protestors still penned in, they can't go home" Phalanx of police

Switch to R. Hall at Bishopsgate, talking about the day good natured until 6.30 when things changed radically, police changing tactics, but calmed down in last 30 minutes or so. Interview with one of the bunnies being all positive and fluffy
Click to expand...

Mhm, missed all the excitement then eh?
 
FridgeMagnet said:
I thought that they had exactly the right idea - if you're worried about being kettled in and not being able to move around, why not take a tent and some food and make staying there the whole point?

Which is why I imagine they have to be stomped on, I suppose. Can't have people who don't mind it when the police "contain them for public order reasons".
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I sense a nail/head interface in the above post. I can't imagine the plod were remotely amused by the subversion of their collective punishment tactics, and the result appears to have been indiscriminate and unprovoked violence. Hopefully this situation will bring the incredibly dodgy police kettling trick under some proper scrutiny for once.

Channel 4 news have already pointed out the dubious legality of arbitrary mass detention...
 
YouSir said:
Just got back after a very long day. Arrived with the Silver Horse/London Bridge lot and headed towards RBS, police trapped us in 10 metres from one of the other lots of protesters, stupid idea which caused an infinite amount of hassle and failed to stop anyone from getting to the bank anyway. Lots of pushing and squashing and then the riot boys came out, batoned us back, to and throw for a while. Then it all calmed down a bit.

Went off to find a drink and ended up with whatshisname, the suspended lecturer, carrying one of the horses to their van. Then headed off to the Alternative G20 Summit, which was shit, next to no one there, no press at all for their 'press conference' and despite rambling about occupying the uni nobody moved to do a thing while I was there. Saw Tony Benn and Mark Thomas though, always nice, plus a mob of teenage 'Anarchists' who turned up and behaved like twats, which was depressing.

All in all a nice, if fucking exhausting day. And no doubt it achieved bugger all but for a while there it felt as if we might've done good in turning up, which is something.
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They weren't teenage 'anarchists' - they were default nihilists - they've got no hope, no direction, no formed politics (except to kick-out & kick-off), and so they behave like tw*ts.
 
That Alternative Summit was always going to be a bit of a non-starter though to be fair when you look at the line-up :D
 
tangentlama said:
They weren't teenage 'anarchists' - they were default nihilists - they've got no hope, no direction, no formed politics (except to kick-out & kick-off), and so they behave like tw*ts.
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True, hence the '' bit, they refered to themselves as Anarchists but clearly they weren't in it for the politics. I'm an Anarchist myself, please don't think I'm knocking the ideology.
 
Pot-Bellied Pig said:
The event seems to be going well for both sides....Gordon Brown likes it.
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I disagree. Gordon wanted the news agenda to be dominated by him and his mates saving the world. But instead we have lots of this sort of thing:

rbs-1.jpg


And all because the Police, knowing in advance there was going to be a demo at the BoE, penned in a bunch of people waving anarchism flags outside the nearest branch of Fred Goodwin's bank...which unlike the buildings around it hadn't been boarded up. You couldn't make it up. :rolleyes:

So you get a couple of blokes with half bricks giving the media an iconic image of the recession. David Cameron must be pissing himself. Maybe the window-breakers were Young Tories in yashmaks?

Come on conspiraloons, it's more plausible than any of your bollocks.
 
pk said:
The meeja is a fickle beast, but the real power is in basic good guy/bad guy emotive reporting.

The tide has turned. Wait and see. Tomorrow's papers.
Questions in the house. Justice?

It's Obama time, remember?

:D
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You're right. I've never seen reporting like this.

They have no choice this time. They have to compete with social media now, and so have to post live, and accurately.
 
cesare said:
That Alternative Summit was always going to be a bit of a non-starter though to be fair when you look at the line-up :D
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The 'alternative summit' in Edinburgh during the Gleneagles G8 was painfully shit, a classic SWP 'who can be the most self important twat' competition.
 
nick h. said:
And all because the Police, knowing in advance there was going to be a demo at the BoE, penned in a bunch of people waving anarchism flags outside the nearest branch of Fred Goodwin's bank...which unlike the buildings around it hadn't been boarded up. You couldn't make it up. :rolleyes:
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:D

They fell short of having posters of Fred on the windows, to give them some credit. But the way that the fully kitted up riot police suddenly popped out was akin to pantomime - enter stage left with a flourish :D
 
tangentlama said:
Sounds like they're making the best of it then. And a heartfelt thanks to the Beeb for remaining in situ and the continuous, quality reportage. It's what I pay my licence fee for. ((((BBC)))
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I've had it on all day and it was OK from 11 am till about 1.30 but then it has been sporadic IMO. Both the reporters at the scene have been very fair, but the people back in the studio seem to be trying to rewrite what they are saying to make it fit into the standard script for these events.

So for example while Ben Brown has described how thw crowd has been overwhealmingly good-natured and how the police have baton charged people randomly and wound everyone up with arbitrary restrictions on free movement, the talking-head anchor back in the studio turned this into "a wave of violent anarchists stormed the RBS and so riot police had to be moved into the area" (paraphrasing).

A wave of people storming RBS? How many people went inside? 5? 10? For about a minute or two? Hard to say exactly because despite the BBC camera and lots of other media being on location, there seems to be a mysterious media 'void' around this supposed 'invasion'. Hmmm.
 
Look, I know it's the emblem of the fascist state etc. But that thing looks fucking cool. Robocop would love it :D
 
I'm sorry, but if you think that the papers will be full of anti police stuff tomorow, then you're going to be dissapointed. They've got a couple of great shots of people throwing stuff through conviniently unguarded windows. They've got shots of heavy handed police stuff that can easily be spun into anti protester shots. Call me pesamistic (or paranoid, I'm not fussy), but they're going to have a field dayd yes, but at the peoples expense.
 
_float_ said:
I've had it on all day and it was OK from 11 am till about 1.30 but then it has been sporadic IMO. Both the reporters at the scene have been very fair, but the people back in the studio seem to be trying to rewrite what they are saying to make it fit into the standard script for these events.

So for example while Ben Brown has described how thw crowd has been overwhealmingly good-natured and how the police have baton charged people randomly and wound everyone up with arbitrary restrictions on free movement away from the area the talking-head anchor back in the studio turned this into "a wave of violent anarchists stormed the RBS and so riot police had to be moved into the area" (paraphrasing).
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You're absolutely right about this. I remember now! I think I mentioned something on that earlier in the thread.

I wish the BBC would sort that pre-taped edit/commentary out. It's a misrepresentation.
 
_float_ said:
I've had it on all day and it was OK from 11 am till about 1.30 but then it has been sporadic IMO. Both the reporters at the scene have been very fair, but the people back in the studio seem to be trying to rewrite what they are saying to make it fit into the standard script for these events.

So for example while Ben Brown has described how thw crowd has been overwhealmingly good-natured and how the police have baton charged people randomly and wound everyone up with arbitrary restrictions on free movement away from the area the talking-head anchor back in the studio turned this into "a wave of violent anarchists stormed the RBS and so riot police had to be moved into the area" (paraphrasing).
Click to expand...

Yep, that's true. Cos I've had it on in the background all day, I've been quite impressed with the quality of the on the scene stuff. But when I've listened to highlights or whatever I've got annoyed.
 
anyway, are there any updates on what's going on?

Hope everyone's safe and out of the way of those scum thugs.
 
Sky news reporting that everyone is being led out in single file, and that everyone is being searched, questioned and having mug shots taken. :mad:
 
xes said:
I'm sorry, but if you think that the papers will be full of anti police stuff tomorow, then you're going to be dissapointed. They've got a couple of great shots of people throwing stuff through conviniently unguarded windows. They've got shots of heavy handed police stuff that can easily be spun into anti protester shots. Call me pesamistic (or paranoid, I'm not fussy), but they're going to have a field dayd yes, but at the peoples expense.
Click to expand...

THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS

but the police hit...

THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS

but there were...

THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS

but in the...

THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS THEY SMASHED UP THE RBS

Or, the "balanced reporting" version - "There were clashes between protestors and police. Protestors smashed up the RBS, and police tried to maintain order."

(it's not really news, it's what you expect, I just feel like a rant)
 
xes said:
anyway, are there any updates on what's going on?

Hope everyone's safe and out of the way of those scum thugs.
Click to expand...

This is the latest from Indymedia.

20:50 Police have cleared London Bridge

20:42 - Climate Camp: There is now a sit down protest in front of the police vans and lines blocking traffic on Wormwood St being held in solidarity with the climate campers currently trapped by police. Still a party atmosphere with lots of music within the climate camp kettle

20:37 - Climate Camp: Reports that the police now intend to keep campers for two hours and then allow them to leave in groups of twenty

20:36 - Bank: People are being let out of the kettle at Bank one by one, no more stop and searches.

20:23 London Bridge taken by protestors

20:20 - Climate Camp: On the South side of the camp, two people have shimmied their way up a wall along and over the police line and dropped down into the camp, to great cheers from the kettled in crowd.

20:15 - Bank: - People at Bank of England are only being allowed to leave the kettle after being stopped and searched and having their picture taken.

19:53 - Bank: At Bank of England, about 500 people were surrounded by riot police for over an hour. Many demonstrators tried to negotiate with the police to leave the kettle. Some small fires were lit inside the kettle.

19:43 - Climate camp: Between 10 and 30 arrests at climate camp as people attempt to non-violently prevent the police from destroying sections of the camp. Bikes thrown around, tents smashed up, several injuries reported.

19:30 - Clim ate Camp: Is blocked both ends and police have indicated that they intend to keep people there for an hour

19:20 - Bank: Ongoing scuffles between protestors and riot police. Two arrests of street theatre performers for impersonating police officers.

19:15 - Climate Camp: Police have attacked on the South Side of the camp, indiscriminately beating people who are holding their hands up. Police cliam it is to contain the camp as many parts of the city are out of control.
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http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/943
 
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