Progressive activists ‘known to
the police’ across Glasgow, and indeed Britain, were confronted by police officers
on the eve of the chauvinistic Diamond Jubilee celebrations, and issued warnings
not to engage in disorder or to attend any of the gatherings called to oppose
the monarchy. In Glasgow, a supporter of Fight
Racism! Fight Imperialism! and the Glasgow Defence Campaign, who has been a
consistent target of state harassment was visited by plain clothes officers PC
McFadden (H 567) and PC Daily (H 611) of Baird Street Police Office, without
any legal authority to be told that engaging in ‘anti-social behaviour and
violence’ would make him liable to arrest. As if we needed telling! Other
activists, who are still being dragged through a trial after being targeted for
arrest at last year’s anti-royal wedding party in Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Park,
were also door stepped by McFadden and Daily.
The GDC has received reports of
anonymous officers phoning activists in Newcastle to inquire into details of a
demonstration against the monarchy which the racist thugs of the English
Defence League aim to confront. As ever when the uniformed pigs fail to deter
people from protest their closest counterparts, the casually dressed pigs of
the EDL, step in to assist them in their ‘duties’ to intimidate and shut down
protest.
Elsewhere unconfirmed reports of
arrests of anti-jubilee activists in Birmingham have been aired. The GDC will
post any news we come across on this.
Miriam Kelly, spokesperson of the
Glasgow Defence Campaign, responded to this latest police intrusion and
intimidation by stating the following;
‘Any right thinking person
understands that to engage in ‘disorder’ makes them liable to arrest so why the
need for officers to be sent to the doors of activists to state the obvious? The
answer is to intimidate and deter the person from attending the event in the
first place irrelevant of whether they intend on any disorder or not. This is a
clear breach of the democratic right of assembly and must be opposed. We
understand that the biggest threat to disorder are the police themselves, who
have used large assemblies in recent times to test their policing tactics of
snatch squads and crowd control techniques.
The only criminals
this weekend will be the archaic monarch and her foot soldiers of the British
Army; each have the blood of hundreds of years of imperialist war, occupation and
exploitation on their hands! The Diamond Jubilee charade is as the Scot poet
Hugh MacDiarmid stated ‘Royal Honours for murderers and fools!’
If you were door
stepped today or have been before send details of this to glasgowdefence@yahoo.co.uk
No to
intimidation through door stepping!
Defend the right to protest!
