Unable to strike since 1919, the Police appear to be using unthinkable acts of stupidity with regards to their handling of the student ‘riot’ fiasco as a covert form of industrial action.
The wildcat actions started off impressively; despite knowing for weeks that thousands of protesters were due to march past the Tory HQ, near the houses of parliament, only 225 officers were posted along the route. The TSG finished donut break before mobilising and even then took just long enough warming up around the improvised placard bonfires for most of the protesters fearful of arrest to have taken some photos for Facebook, reenacted their favourite scene from tales from the crypt II in the lobby and skipped merrily away to freedom. An epic fuck up; “embarrassing” Sir Paul Stephenson, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, forcing a public enquiry and a hefty refurbishment bill for the non-domiciled Reuben brothers. A poorly executed police response, yet a magnificently executed Keynesian job creation and wealth redistribution program. As laissez-faire economics destroy the working class, working class heroes from London to Nottingham have, in true capitalist fashion, managed to make a few quick bucks out of the destruction of the Conservative Party properties; oh what sweet irony. See picture below from the Tory party Nottingham office that seems to have suffered a freak storm last night.
It is notable however that the 20 odd police left defending the offices of International Electromatics from the thousands of thuggish protestors fought like Spartans and commanded a comparable victory, with at least twice as many protestors being hospitalised as officers. I am sure any figures are nonsense and a future freedom of information request will show in true Kingsnorth fashion that protesters injured only a few officers. Police records showing that the medical unit had dealt mostly with toothache, diarrhoea, cut fingers and “possible bee stings”, whereas many protestors were injured as the direct result of police batons and a swift right hook (see older post). I imagine these 20 odd officers are the forces equivalent of Jedi, and are probably the officers in charge of the current training the Junior Knights at RAF/USAF Fairford in how to deal with a full-scale violent protest.
Talking of Spartans, the UK had their very own #IAmSpartacus moment when in another incredulous act of ‘policing’, acting Detective Inspector Will Hodgeson gave authorisation to close the FITWATCH site on the basis it was being used for “criminal activity” or for those who speak Newspeak, “crimethink”. The FITWATCH website has been a camera in the backside of the Thinkpol and Ministry of Love for a few years now, “resisting and monitoring forward intelligence teams with tactics ranging from blocking cameras to printing numbers, names and photographs of known police officers on [the] blog, and offering advice to demonstrators about staying safe in protest situations”. When advice was posted for the students worried they were facing arrest following the Torygraphs vigilante Tory HQ occupation shop-a-student campaign, the Police Central e-crime Unit, in true Orwellian fashion, shut it down. Within hours the mainly innocuous and common sense post had been spread all over the Internet, the site was re-hosted and the massive amount of publicity rocketed FITWATCH from a site little known outside of activist circles to a national treasure. Schoolboy Hodgeson who, incidentally, used threats to bypass the legal process and freedom of expression protections is not new to the FITWATCH case and can not seriously have believed his actions would have caused any other response? Especially in light of the recent twitter joke trial. I am no expert in legalities but the people at article19 are, and they are not mincing their words. The force of social media is strong padawan.
Charlie Chaplain’s infiltration of the police force didn’t stop there; the police quickly launched ‘Operation Malone’ to track down the wanted students. In response Ian Bone quickly launched ‘Operation Fuck Up Operation Malone’ calling on people to fill up mailboxes with false names for the photos. In yet another wildcat action it appears the officers originally working for Operation Malone switched sides as so far, with all the CCTV footage and a myriad of other media they have managed to arrest the wrong kid for throwing the fire extinguisher (seems like someone forgot to check that the fire extinguisher the kid was holding in the photo was the same type that hit the ground) and release photos of the most wanted, two of whom turned out to be working at the building and had nothing to do with the rioters.
One joke that has hit my mailbox a few times now is that the fire extinguisher kid was actually an agent provocateur/Tory Student Soc President aiming at Ian Bone. In all seriousness though, I do not believe the police ‘underestimated’ the action and do not discount the possibilities of agent provocateurs at the protest. I noticed one lone gentleman who appeared to be milling around near others including myself on several occasions, in several places, listening to what was being said. His odd behaviour struck a chord inside me and his face was imprinted in my memory as I made eye contact on several occasions, he was there till the bitter end, approximately 20 left in the kettle and when everyone was facing the direction of the kettle exit, eagerly anticipating pissing in the bushes upon release, he slipped quietly through police lines at the rear after speaking to one of the officers. Being wary of others will not stop this kind of infiltration as has been proved in the case of Mark Stone/Kennedy, but be wary of your own actions and think a little about your future before throwing a fire extinguisher off a roof. Assess individually what action needs to be made in order to make your point, avoid pack mentality and keep fighting!
Organise, Resist, Strike, Occupy.
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