Police

At around 11pm, despite all the problems with effective decision-making, those of us still at Climate Camp in Bishopsgate orchestrated a controlled retreat. By this point I was right up against the police line on the south end of the camp.
We were walking with our arms linked, being pushed by a line of police using their riot shields. They kept pushing us, but when we got as far as we’d agreed we sat down. Shortly afterwards, they tried pulling people out of the line – they didn’t…

Ian Tomlinson, 47, was a newspaper seller on his way home from work on 1 April.

6pm: Eyewitness Ross Hardy sees four riot police drag Mr Tomlinson to the pavement after he does not move out of the way of a police van, standing in the road.

7.15pm: Photographer Anna Branthwaite sees Mr Tomlinson pushed to the ground by a policeman near Threadneedle Street: “he did actually roll…. [he] bounced because of the force of the impact…. The officer hit him twice with a baton when…

On every demonstration we are subject to being photographed by the police – presumably to add to the vast database the government holds on us – on a level constituting harassment. But as of 16 February, we may risk 10 years inside if we dare to photograph them!

That was the day when section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism Act 2008 came into effect, under which eliciting, publishing or communicating information on members of the armed forces, intelligence services and police officers…

On 3 September, the last of the four days of the US Republican National Convention (RNC) in St Paul, Minnesota, demonstrators attempting to march on the convention centre after 5pm (when the permit to demonstrate expired) were met by police in riot gear using snow-ploughs, horses and dump trucks to stop the march.
At about midnight, police in riot gear encircled people leaving a Rage Against the Machine gig and made some 150 arrests including four distinctively attired “Peace Team”…

Police have intervened across the country to prevent screenings of the new campaigning film On the Verge about the Brighton-based anti-arms trade group “Smash EDO”. Police action succeeded in preventing the film's premiere on 17 March. Over the following days, there were reports of police and council intimidation of cafes and community centres in Southampton, Bristol, Bath and Hereford that had planned to show the film.

The film bills itself as “the story of one of the most…

Once upon a time there were far more political bookshops around the country than the handful left today, including several right in the heart of central London's bookselling zone around Charing Cross Road. These shops were very convenient to help the Met Police's Special Branch keep track of things - they could (and did) short-circuit a lot of research into the political scene by simply strolling up the road and buying armfuls of the radical papers and magazines on sale.

But the…

Just before 3am on Tuesday 23 May, around 50 police swooped on Brian Haw and his supporters in Parliament Square. Their instructions were to remove most of the anti-war display.

They brought a lorry and freight container, and unceremoniously dumped placards, cuttings, models, religious items and donated artworks, in a crammed heap into it.
    Two supporters climbed on top of the container and held up the police until they were overpowered…

On 8 May, Brian Haw's exemption from the ban on unauthorised protest under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) came to an end.

The Home Office won an appeal against last year's High Court decision that the Act could not be applied retrospectively and Brian's protest has, in theory, been brought under police control.

Despite media headlines to the effect that this would be the end of Brian's epic stand against this government's foreign…

The recent case of the Aubonne Bridge Two - the trial of Swiss police officers who cut two activists' climbing ropes during a blockade of the Evian G8 and caused incredible injuries - ended, perhaps unsurprisingly, in the acquittal of the police officers involved.

In the run-up to the trial, in a statement published by their support group, they acknowledged the contradictions in initiating a case against the police, calling it “reformist”, but went on to explain why, in this instance…

On 16 February 2006, two police officers were acquitted of charges of causing severe bodily harm to two activists who narrowly escaped with their lives after a police officer cut a climbing rope during an action at the protests against the G8 in Evian, Switzerland, in 2003. Despite clear video evidence that the police officers had cut the rope in question, the judge ruled that the police officers involved could not be held accountable.

In June 2003, two climbers suspended themselves…

Members of Brighton's SmashEDO campaign (see various PNs) have engaged in a unique open-letter negotiation with the local police, informing them of their planned demonstration against the EDO weapons plant on 10 December, International Human Rights Day. The letter was posted on UK Indymedia and, rather bizarrely, an open dialogue between members of SmashEDO and an officer of Sussex Police appears to have been taking place on the site.

The application for an…

On Saturday 13 August, shoppers in Brighton town centre witnessed the extent to which our right to protest is being curtailed, when a peaceful demonstration against arms manufacturer EDO was abruptly halted by police using heavy-handed tactics.

Around 50 peace campaigners - including the elderly and mothers with children - met at 12 noon in Churchill Square where they were greeted by police officers carrying surveillance equipment. Whilst some protesters had travelled from London,…

"Czechtek", the electronic music festival that takes place annually in the Czech Republic, was recently brought to a violent end when over 1000 heavily armed riot police moved in and attacked revellers.

At least one person has been confirmed dead, with reports of possibly two more, and scores of injuries. The music, video and arts festival - in its 12th year - was held on private land in full compliance with Czech law, despite official statements from Czech police claiming that the…

Anti-war activists have called for solidarity as over 20 people face charges following the demonstration against George W Bush’s UK visit in June.

In recent weeks the Metropolitan Police have arrested several people identified from video footage taken on the day, house raids have taken place, and charges brought including for “violent disorder”. The police have a special operation dedicated to the demonstration called “Operation Spring Brook”.

A police appeal was printed in the…

Early on 11 March officers from Lothian and Borders Police dismantled a large model Trident nuclear weapon submarine which had blocked the street outside the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh for 14 hours in a challenge to the Parliament to take a stand against Britain's weapons of mass destruction.

At 10am on 10 March the submarine had approached the Parliament building and, as it crossed the Canongate, peace activists on the inside, from Trident Ploughshares and the Theatre of War…