Meanwile, in Glasgow, unreported by national press

[Tony Gosling]

>The Ugly, the Good and the Bad
>------------------------------
>Govanhill Pool Eviction Resistance Continues: Locals, Who Paid For It, 
> Have Decided It's Staying Open
>
>
> http://www.saveourpool.co.uk
> SAVE OUR POOL - WE HAVEN'T GONE AWAY
> http://crowd.to/saveourpool/
>
> The Ugly
> Like thieves in the night, in the early hours of Tuesday 7th August
sheriff
> officers and police officers broke into Calder Street Baths, Govanhill. 
Over the next
> 19 hours the police attacked numerous people. Several were taken to
> hospital including one woman with a suspected broken leg and an 11 year
old
> boy kicked by the police. Another woman was beaten up by police in a lane.
> She was picked up by four police officers who allowed her trousers and
> underwear to fall down. They did not allow her to pull them up and threw
her
> onto cobbled ground. When she made a formal complaint the police came to
her
> door at 3 o'clock in the morning. This is Gestapo like behaviour. Women
and
> children were forced into close entrances and beaten. Another 11 year-old
> boy continues to have nightmares after being pushed off a stone pillar.
Old
> and young were almost trampled on by police horses.
> Four officers beat someone unconscious who was running away from another
> police charge. It was no co-incidence that he was Asian. They deliberately
> provoked sections of the crowd by calling them. "black bastards". They are
> now specifically targeting Asians for arrest from video footage.
> If they had wanted the situation to remain peaceful they could have sealed
> off the area early in the morning, ensured the metal window shutters were
in
> place and left quickly. The council and police choose to punish,
intimidate
> and humiliate the people of this area, because we stood up for ourselves.
> How much time and money was wasted on the police operation? Yet the
council
> maintains that they can't find the money to refurbish and run the pool.
> If you have ever been the victim of a crime in Govanhill you know how
little
> of their resources are devoted to helping ordinary people. Their priority
is
> to protect people in power. Their provocation of the crowd by the police
was
> part of a pre-planned operation designed to look like simple re-action to
> trouble-makers in the crowd. Each charge by the police was initiated not
by
> the actions of the crowd, but by the orders of senior officers.
> The police remain outside the pool as part of a pretense that they are
> protecting the building. But with all their resources they still couldn't
> stop someone starting a fire at the side of the building only two days
after
> they took over the pool. Their real purpose is to show that they are in
> control, intimidating protesters while protecting the scab workers. We
> protected the building for nearly five months without a single act of
> vandalism. The council are the biggest vandals of all. If they can get
away
> with it eventually they will strip the building in order to make it more
> expensive to re-open. They could also demolish the building.
>
> The Bad
> Parts of the media, especially the Daily Record, have said that the
> demonstration, and by implication the Save Our Pool campaign has been
> hijacked first by a 15-year-old-boy, other local youths and then the
> Scottish Socialist Party. At a time when refugees are being killed and
> stabbed by racists it is particularly disgusting that the Daily Record
> followed council and police instructions and tried to scapegoat an Asian
for
> the trouble. When someone rang up the Daily Record to tell them she had
> known the boy all his life and that he was not a yob, she was told, "You
can
> 't believe everything you read in the papers!" There are about a dozen SSP
> members involved in the campaign who live locally. There are also members
of
> the Liberal Democrats, the Scottish National Party, the Labour Party, but
> most protesters are non-aligned and the campaign remains a local
> organisation run on democratic lines. The council showed how much they
> respect democracy when they closed the whole of Daisy Street Neighbour
> Centre to stop us from having a public meeting. Don't let the council and
> the police divide our community. They are the real outside agitators.
>
> The Good
> Young and old, black and white stood together to defend our pool. The
> council don't seem to have realised, by their actions, they have doubled
the
> size of the campaign and our determination to win. We now have more time
to
> step up our peaceful campaign and take more direct action. A daytime
picket
> outside the pool will continue. Instead of the council created derelict
> looking building, we will continue to promote our vision of Govanhill Pool
> as a Healthy Living Centre.
>
> Contacting the Campaign
> In person: We meet every Monday night (except Public Holidays) at the
Daisy
> Street Neighbour Centre.
> Every Wednesday we have a singalong outside the pool
> Post: Southside Against Closure
> C/o Daisy Street Neighbourhood Centre, Daisy Street, Glasgow, G42.
> Phone: 07000 752 752
> E-mail: saveourpool at aol.com
> Website:  www.saveourpool.co.uk  Check the discussion forum.
>
>