The nature of political protest in britain

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonathantaphouse/sets/72157626426693575/

that tesco in bristol is my local. solid branch imo. stoked (!!!) for a long hot summer.

raiding a squat at the end of a very hot day in part of town where (1) everyone has been outside in the nice weather drinking since, like, saturday (2) everyone is all #stokescroft #royalweddingcoverup #indymedia seems very silly imo.

this was utterly ridiculous timing, yes. the romantic ideologists version of stokes croft as progressive, re appropriated, culturally autonomous zone kinda gets shuttled back to ugh, crusties when faced with scenes like last nights. alright, fuck a tesco, sure, but certainly fuck a riot.

So what's really going on here? Unbelievable.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/apr/27/tuition-fees-protest-alfie-meadows-charge

thought this was otm http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/apr/15/kettling-radicalises-youth, even just from a pragmatic policing pov: "I say this to the police: why should protesters engage on your terms, when these are your terms?"

^^^I love Dan Hancox' writing.

Rally held to back cuts to reduce UK deficit

Speakers at the event in Old Palace Yard included political blogger Paul Staines who writes under the name Guido Fawkes, the director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood, director of the TaxPayers' Alliance, Matthew Sinclair, and Nigel Farage MEP.

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100087880/why-im-attending-the-rally-against-debt/

Alas, the protest was over by the time Toby Young had finished at the pirate musem. Still, it's the thought that counts.

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/224121_10150196825106305_144144931304_7103355_6939605_n.jpg

350 people

never has post content gone so well with username, ned

Mark Littlewood

this guy really knows how to work the 'west midlands BNP councillor' look

http://imgur.com/3qhpJ

Think the guy with the 'Stop Spending Money We Don't Have' placard is an Arsenal fan looking for the Wenger Out black scarf march.

Or even

http://i.imgur.com/3qhpJ.jpg

Most charges dropped vs. Fortnum and Mason protesters.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14189892

"We couldn't be bothered to go ahead because they were only going to get 16 month sentences anyway."

They're 'aving a go in Tottenham apparently.

Plastic bullets available to police for Wednesday's student protests

i really do struggle to understand the met's mindset sometimes

FFS... The worst bit about this is that while it would have been considered extreme/inconceivable just over a year ago to allow the shooting of rounds of bullets on student protesters, it's now not even that surprising.

index on censorship pretty much debunks this:

http://blog.indexoncensorship.org/2011/11/08/plastic-bullets-protest-london/

is the guardian worse than it used to be?

I'm not sure that's really a de-bunking, although I agree that Jenny Jones is going overboard. The Met are making threatening noises (there's nothing new in that either) - probably aimed more at looking tough for their political masters than at the students, but they are definitely making it clear how far they are prepared to go.

Perhaps the police should be clearer on their tactics and arsenal, but those who claim to be on the side of the protesters should be careful not to create unnecessary tension

To which I say "they started it".

OTM

fuck's sake.

obviously i'm loath to take twitter at its word automatically but the amount of reports i've seen of kettles forming in various places already...this time last year it was still a *shocking* tactic, but far from the police being held to account for their actions then, it's like kettling is their default first resort now. seriously what is going on here!

If I understand it correctly, they are currently being kettled while Billy Bragg plays some songs for them :(

:o

Think Laurie Penny is tweeting shit unverified shit about watercannons being used now.

when i say i am loath to trust twitter generally automatically, in the case of lolrie penny i pretty much assume the opposite of what she tweets

ed miliband, meanwhile, is tweeting about poppies. FUCKING USELESS

Ed Miliband isn't allowed to talk about anything until 5,000-odd people have confirmed that it's really a mainstream opinion. Then he can start talking like it's brave and controversial and leading from the front.

that's the most depressingly OTM summation of miliband's MO i've seen. the labour party seems not to understand that it is part of the problem

Um, I follow Laurie Penny and she hasn't tweeted anything about water cannons.

@PennyRed "We have also been informed by the City of London Police that if need be they will be deploying Water Cannons" - #9nov

@PennyRed So that's the kettle plan, and police plan use of water cannons. Stay safe, everyone. I'm heading down now.

Yes, but that's been reported elsewhere - I assumed you were saying she was tweeting that they were being used.

Nope. Still, given it's entirely unsubstantiated it still feels needlessly inflammatory.

Tents, Billy Bragg... and now Tom Morello at St Paul's. Blimey.

god love em but protest needs to get its fucking aesthetic together, this is embarrassing

protest needs to get its fucking aesthetic together <-- we are the 1%! :D

Billy Bragg supports the government, why wd he be involved in this shit?

think it might be time to call it all off for good