> Subject: Personal account of 7/18 action in UK
>
> From: Genetic Engineering Network office
> <info@genetix.freeserve.co.uk> (by
> way of genetics <genetics@gn.apc.org>)
>
> Excellent personal account from Keith Parkins re:
> Watlington
>
> Stop the Crop National Rally - 18 July 1999
>
> Coaches from around the country headed for the rally. As
> the site was
> approached, Police road blocks were encountered.
> Ironically, the only people
> the Police were letting through were the protesters and
> the media (who were
> out
> in force). Already on site were TV crews with their
> satellite dishes.
> The site could not have been better located, a field on
> top of a hill,
> opposite
> the GM crop. A farm trailer had been converted into an
> impromptu sound stage.
> Food, drink, and a herbal medical centre were available
> on site
> During the afternoon, the protesters were entertained by
> speeches and music.
> The speakers included Alan Simpson MP (Labour Member for
> Nottingham), food
> writer Lynda Brown (local resident), and environmental
> writer and journalist
> George Monbiot. Alan Simpson told the crowd how it was
> only mass civil
> disobedience that changed anything, gave an insight into
> the power of global
> corporations and the undue influence they were having on
> government; Lynda
> Brown told how this was the only issue food writers had
> ever felt sufficiently
> concerned about to campaign on, that it was a gut
> reaction that something was
> rotten, GM was not needed and was doing nothing to
> improve the quality of
> food;
> George Monbiot launched a scathing attack on the flawed
> basis of the
> experiment
> that was going on across the road and the global
> corporations who were
> engaging
> in exploitation and neo-colonialism.
> During the afternoon, protesters were handed out a
> leaflet, detailing the
> agenda, and a map of the site. On the back was legal
> advice in case of any
> problems with the Police.
> After the speeches, everyone was to leave the rally site,
> line up in two
> columns, then in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction,
> walk around the test
> site using lanes and public footpaths. The protesters had
> only got a short
> distance along the road in either direction, when
> individually and
> spontaneously, they all headed straight to the test site
> and started wandering
> across the field. Of the 500 protesters attending the
> rally, virtually all
> those present, clad in white biohazard suits and wearing
> face masks (a
> necessary precaution against pollen and the sprays that
> had been used on the
> field), all walking across the field to the sound of Pink
> Floyd. Standing on
> the sound stage it was an amazing sight to watch.
> The small handful of Police standing in the road (far
> fewer than at the picnic
> two weeks previous) were outflanked. There was little
> they could do, other
> than
> radio for help, and watch, trying very hard, and not very
> successfully, not to
> laugh. The Police too, than went into the test field,
> though not to accost the
> protesters but to seek shelter under the trees from the
> hot sun.
> It didn't take long for Police reinforcements to arrive.
> A Police helicopter
> arrived on the scene and then hovered around for about an
> hour filming the
> action below.
> A long time later, maybe an hour, Police reinforcements
> started to arrive en
> masse, but still heavily outnumbered by protesters. A
> small posse of Police
> then headed into the crops, trampling down more crops
> than the protesters.
> Most of the protesters had by this time left the test
> site to visit the
> Alternative
> Model Farm.
> A hard core of protesters were left in the field. With a
> large number of
> Police assembled, the press reported 80, the mood started
> to turn ugly. Up
> until then
> there had been a good rapport between the Police and the
> protesters. The new
> arrivals were psyching themselves up for action, the body
> language was
> different, and they were clearly out looking for trouble.
> It looked like the Police may be considering going into
> the field and rounding
> up the hard core, but they were pre-empted by the
> protesters waltzing back out
> of the field. The Police ran up the road to block them
> off, and physically
> blocked off the road by weight of numbers. By this time
> the cavalry had
> arrived, a couple of Police motor cyclists, and Police on
> horseback.
> The Police opened up the road block, and, to the cheer of
> all the onlookers,
> the protesters peacefully walked down the road, arm in
> arm heading towards the
> rally site.[At this point all those without suits were
> being protected by
> those
> in suits and everyone was singing "We'll meet again" - it
> was an amazing
> moment.] As the field gate was approached, a handful of
> Police officers
> launched a brutal attack on two or three of the
> protesters. There was no
> provocation, the protesters were peacefully walking down
> the road, there had
> been no calling of insults or taunting of the Police, it
> was Police brutality
> pure and simple. Those involved simply layed into
> protesters, they were
> nothing better than thugs in uniform. One girl was
> grabbed by the hair, and
> had
> her
> hair pulled out by the roots, another protester was
> wrestled to the ground,
> down the side of a Police motorcycle, Police fists
> flying, another protester
> was wrestled to the ground, sat on by a fat overweight
> officer, then dragged
> along the road a short distance, face down. Several
> officers were involved in
> violent assaults on individual demonstrators. Whether
> this was action under
> orders, if so whose orders, is not clear. It looked as
> though the officers had
> it in for those targeted, and the attacks were personal,
> rather than randomly
> picked on protesters. Other protesters were then pushed,
> jostled and herded
> towards the Police horses. It was sheer luck that no one
> fell under the horses
> hoofs and was seriously injured. The officers on
> horseback appeared to be
> losing control with the horses prancing all over the
> place. A tense several
> minutes ensured whilst the protesters retreated back into
> the field. The gate
> was shut to prevent Police getting into the field and the
> Police in turned
> blocked the gate to stop protesters leaving. If it hadn't
> been for the
> protesters keeping their cool and maintaining control
> over the situation,
> something the Police seemed incapable of due to the
> action of a few rogue
> officers, a nasty situation could have turned very nasty
> and spiralled out of
> control. A few of those present with more sense than the
> Police went round
> asking everyone to stay calm and not be provoked by the
> Police.
> The Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police should launch
> an immediate
> investigation into the failure of his officers to
> exercise crowd control (in
> fact no crowd control was necessary), and to root out
> those officers who were
> involved in violence and kick them out of the force, as
> there can be no place
> for thugs in uniform if the public is to have any
> confidence in the force. If
> these officers can engage in violent assaults in broad
> daylight, before many
> witnesses, it begs the question as to what they get up to
> when out of sight.
> The Police Complaints Authority should launch an
> immediate investigation.
> What had been a peaceful, enjoyable and successful day,
> was marred by uncalled
> for Police violence and brutality. Those who witnessed
> the event, were shocked
> by what they saw. Those who had been on past peaceful
> protests said past
> experience had taught them what to expect and this was
> nothing new. It cannot
> even be claimed that the Police panicked as they were not
> under any threat.
> Someone, whether the individuals involved, or orders from
> above, took a
> decision to attack peaceful protesters.
> Genetic Engineering Network, has asked that anyone who
> was an eye witness to
> the Police violence or to anyone being arrested with
> excessive and
> unreasonable
> force to contact their London office immediately.
> Any photos or video recording of the event would be very
> welcome.
> Genetic Engineering Network - tel 0181 374 9516 e-mail
> both
> <genetics@gn.apc.org> and <info@genetix.freeserve.co.uk>
>
> [WORD OF CAUTION from GEN -Any named protesters could be
> accused of engaging
> in criminal damage. But who are the criminals, the
> protesters who have tried
> to stop a major biohazard, or Lord Macclesfield and a
> biotech company in
> collusion with the British government who are
> deliberately contaminating the
> countryside with a biohazard?
> As the coaches left, the protesters smiled and waved to
> the security men
> lounging on a landrover, the security men smiled and
> waved back. Throughout
> the day, security men and protesters stayed on friendly
> terms. [Some of them
> even cut through the barbed wire fence on the meeting
> site so that people
> could get away from the police violence]. The security
> men showed a great
> deal more
> professionalism than the so-called professionals
> (excluding the officers who
> were there at the beginning who caused no problems).
> The occupation of the test site by several hundred
> protesters was one of the
> largest acts of civil disobedience seen in the country.
>
>
>
_________________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com
To Unsubscribe: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg". If you receive the digest format, use the command
"unsubscribe sanet-mg-digest".
To Subscribe to Digest: Email majordomo@ces.ncsu.edu with the command
"subscribe sanet-mg-digest".
All messages to sanet-mg are archived at:
http://www.sare.org/htdocs/hypermail