Fwd: [ftp] Occupations update/list of all UK occupations + Fortnums 145 defendants' statement

[Mark Barrett]

FYI
Extracts from SchNEWS, Issue 796, Friday 18th November 2011

*State of The Occupation
*AS UK OCCUPY MOVEMENT STAYS PUT, AMERICA’s GOES ON THE MOVE...

The Occupy movements around the world are reaching crunch time this week
after it kicks off in New York and London was served with an eviction
notice from The City of London Corporation.

Last week (4th), representatives from the Occupy LSX camp met with their
opposite numbers from The City of London Corporation, at the corporation’s
request (See SchNEWS 795). During this meeting it was proposed that as long
as the camp was able to clear some space for Fire Brigade access they would
be allowed to remain without legal persecution until after Christmas. The
next day, as this proposal was going through consensus at the camp, the
corporation added no less than 12 added extras, ranging from demanding that
the camp recognised itself as unlawful, that it was trespassing and
preventing freedom of movement for the public, and that the corporation had
the right to sue for possession of the area – to name but a few. These
extras were not announced to the press and kept as quiet as possible.

Occupy LSX rejected the terms, and responded with a few demands of their
own. Demands that any other Local Authority in the country would be legally
obliged to fulfil, but which The City of London Corporation remain scarily
exempt from. Simply, the camp asked that the corporation: 1) Publish full,
year-by-year breakdowns of the City Cash account, future and historic; 2)
Make the entirety of its activities subject to the Freedom of Information
Act; and 3) Detail all advocacy undertaken on behalf of the banking and
finance industries, since the 2008 financial crash.

The Corporation doesn’t have to do any of this because it is in fact a
medieval hangover (officially entitled The Mayor and Commonalty and
Citizens of the City of London) which has gone unreformed for centuries –
it’s a local authority whose electorate is composed almost entirely of
businesses - it is a powerful advocate for the financial capital.

**DRAGONSLAYERS**

The occupation’s demands obviously caused some consternation amongst the
lizard cabal, as dialogue was immediately halted, and the corporation
issued eviction notices. Our feudal overlords sent their minions to the
camp on Wednesday (16th) to post signs (and assault at least two tent
dwellers, one of whom needed hospital treatment) demanding the removal of
tents and structures from the area around St Pauls. Officials handed out
notices embossed with the Corporation’s coat of arms showing two rampant
dragons embracing a George Cross. The eviction notice doesn’t really have
any force in law – it’s a notice of intention from the Corporation, setting
a deadline before further legal action, and demanding the removal of all
tents and structures from the so-called Red Land (no doubt a favoured
basking ground). The deadline was set for 6pm on Thursday (17th).

In the lead up to zero hour the cathedral bells rang out into the night and
the camp assembled to hear speeches from John Cooper QC, the movement’s
legal knowledge box, as well as occupiers and supporters.

As the clock struck 6pm, the collective raised their hands in a ‘silent
scream’, a minute-long synchronised hand waving that symbolised er... well,
make your own mind up. A banner proclaiming ‘ You Can’t Evict An Idea’ was
unfurled and the message is resolutely one of defiance against the eviction
order. As SchNEWS goes to press the atmosphere at tent city is according to
the official spokesman “just so beautiful, so emotional” with people
relaxing and music playing. There was at time of going to press no sign of
any action taken to enforce the eviction. And the next steps? As the
spokesman put it, “Of course we’re going to hold the space, why wouldn’t
we?

We’re reasonable people making reasonable requests. This legal action by
The City of London is just a distraction tactic. We want to have an open
and honest dialogue about the issues we’ve raised and they’re refusing to
do that. Until this dialogue happens, we will remain.”

**IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST**

Across the pond, things in New York have come to a violent head. In the
early hours of Tuesday (15th) morning, 1,000 riot cops stormed into New
York’s tent city in Zuccotti Park, arresting hundreds of protesters,
detaining journalists and levelling tents and structures. Elsewhere in the
US police took pepper spray and batons to Occupy protests in Seattle,
Dallas and Oakland, California. Apart from a hardcore few, displaced New
York protesters sought refuge in churches and all-night restaurants, and at
5.30pm EST on Tuesday, people were allowed back into Zuccotti Park, on the
condition that they didn’t erect any tents. A co-ordinated mass action had
been planned for Thursday (17th) before the eviction, and on the two month
anniversary of the movement, ex-campers, students and unions made it their
mission to shut down the Wall Street trading floor.

Early on in the day, thousands assembled and broke through the barricades
around Zuccotti Park to take back their space. Bloody clashes with police
ensued as protesters faced riot cops, resulting in arrests and beatings
while the crowd blockaded the roads into New York Stock Exchange. Reports
have also been coming out of police stripping clothes from arrestees as
they were dragged out of the demo. A student march gathered in Union
Square, around 2 miles from the violence on Wall Street, and various blocks
of Occupy demonstrators started to march towards the students. The roving
demonstration spread out through Manhattan with blocs breaking through
police lines in some places, being kettled in others, taking over the
subway, and general giving it the anarchic big one. The cops have been
seriously heavy handed with eyewitness reports of hundreds of people with
head wounds, cuts, bruises and batterings from cops. As SchNEWS goes to
press the protest is still in full swing, with tens of thousands occupying
Brooklyn Bridge.

In Paris, Les Indignés camp at La Défense has also been facing the rough
treatment from authorities. Set up on 4th November to coincide with the G20
summit in Cannes, the camp had been slow to grow to the same numbers of
protesters seen in London and New York. Cops moved in on Tuesday (16th),
apparently just to tidy up a bit – stating they were there to clear
cardboard boxes and furniture that had been collected as part of the
settlement, and not to evict the people. About 100 police officers and
gendarmes raided the camp, confiscating the protesters’ tarpaulin,
cardboard boxes and signs. Resolute demonstrators immediately set about
rebuilding the camp and have pledged to stay.

The occupy movement isn’t just in London, New York and Paris (dahling!). Go
find the occupation on a high street near you.

The occupy movement isn’t just in London, New York and Paris. Go find the
occupation near you.

**Bath**: Queen Square – www.facebook.com/occupybath
<http://www.facebook.com/occupybath>
/ @occupybath

*Belfast:* Writers Square – www.occupybelfast.blogspot.com
<http://www.occupybelfast.blogspot.com>
/ @occupybelfast

**Birmingham**: City Centre Gardens - www.occupybirmingham.co.uk/
<http://www.occupybirmingham.co.uk/>
/ @occupybhamuk

**Bournemouth**: Contact bournemouthoccupation at hotmail.co.uk
<mailto:bournemouthoccupation at hotmail.co.uk<bournemouthoccupation at hotmail.co.uk>>
for details of meetings www.facebook.com/OccupyBournemouth
<http://www.facebook.com/OccupyBournemouth>
/

**Bradford**: Centenary Square – www.facebook.com/occupybradford
<http://www.facebook.com/occupybradford>
/ 01274 957895

**Brighton**: Victoria Gardens, Old Steine –
www.occupybrighton.co.uk/wp <http://www.occupybrighton.co.uk/wp>
/ @occupybrighton

**Bristol**: College Green - www.occupybristoluk.org
<http://www.occupybristoluk.org>
/ @occupybristoluk

**Cardiff**: Meet at the Cardiff Motor Point Arena at 11:00am on Saturday
19th November for re-occupation - www.occupycardiff.co.nr/
<http://www.occupycardiff.co.nr/>
/ @occupycardiff

**Cork**: South Mall - www.occupycork.org < http://www.occupycork.org> /
@occupycork

**Dublin**: Dame Street - www.occupydamestreet.org
<http://www.occupydamestreet.org>
/ @occupydublin

**Edinburgh**: St Andrews Square - occupyedinburgh.org
<http://occupyedinburgh.org>
/ @occupyedinburgh

*Exeter:* Exeter Cathedral -
https://www.facebook.com/groups/243774599005818/ @occupyexeter

**Galway**: Eyre Square - www.occupygalway.org < http://www.occupygalway.org>
/ @occupygalway

*Glasgow:* Kelvingrove Park - www.occupyglasgow.org
<http://www.occupyglasgow.org>


**Leeds**: City Square - http://www.occupyleeds.co.uk / @occupy_leeds

*Manchester:* Tivoli Street – www.facebook.com/OccupyMCR <
http://www.facebook.com/OccupyMCR> / @oNorwich: Haymarket -
http://www.occupynorwich.co.uk / @occupynorwich

**Newcastle upon Tyne**: Earls Grey Monument – www.occupynewcastle.org
<http://www.occupynewcastle.org>
/ @occupynewcastle

*Nottingham:* Nottingham Market Square -
www.facebook.com/occupy.nottingham<http://www.facebook.com/occupy.nottingham>
/ @occupynotts

**Plymouth**: Jigsaw Garden, Drake Circus – www.occupyplymouth.org
<http://www.occupyplymouth.org>
/ @occupyplymouth

**Sheffield**: Sheffield Cathedral - www.occupysheffield.org
<http://www.occupysheffield.org>
/ @occupysheffield

And these are just the ones holding a space at the moment. See
www.occupywiki.org.uk < http://www.occupywiki.org.uk>for more info and more
camps in the planning.


 http://www.schnews.org.uk/stories/State-of-The-Occupation/


------------------------------------------------------------------------


*Crap Convictions of the Week *

*For sitting pretty in a shop...*

On Thursday (19th) ten of the thirteen Fortnum & Mason defendants (see
SchNEWS 777 <http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news777.php><http://www.schnews.org.uk/archive/news777.php>)
were found guilty of aggravated trespass following their occupation against
tax-avoidance of the store during the M26 anti-cuts protest.

The unlucky UK-Uncut activists had been whittled down from an initial 145
arrested, the vast majority of which had their charges dropped. The police
had been quite explicit about the reasoning for choosing the ten: as
always, regardless of your own personal actions, they’re looking for
‘organisers’. This blatant attempt to give politically active people the
heebie-jeebies filtered its way up to Westminster magistrates court (read:
no public jury) where the decisions were tenuous in the extreme.

Found guilty in part on the premise that the individuals intended to
‘intimidate’ staff, customers and police, the magistrates then admitted
that the defendants themselves hadn’t done anything intimidating...
Instead, their crime was failing to scarper past the luxury jams - and the
impenetrable cop kettle - back on to Oxford Street as soon as they
suspected their comrades of disrespecting the holy temple of silver napkin
rings and Easter eggs. They were also told they had encouraged the actions
of others ‘by their presence’. Well, as far as SchNEWS could see, there was
no magic circle of Derren Brown-alike puppet-masters.

In the verdict, the magistrates mentioned the need to balance the right to
peaceful protest against the right to ‘legitimate business’ and found in
favour of the latter – using a conveniently loose definition of
‘legitimate’ and a conveniently hard-line, capitalist-favouring
misinterpretation of ‘peaceful’. Those convicted have been sentenced to a
six-month conditional discharge and a £1000 fine in court costs. The £40
million worth of tax-dodging by Fortnum’s owners Whittington Investments
never came up.

*Defiant statement from the defendants outside of court

*Today, the 10 of us who were on trial have been found guilty of taking
part in a protest.

A protest that was dubbed ‘sensible’ by the senior police officer at the
scene.

We were standing up, or more accurately sitting down, against our
government making harsh cuts to public services, whilst letting companies
like Fortnum and Masons get away with dodging a total of tens of billions
of pounds of tax every year.

Then we are put on trial, whilst it’s clear the real criminals are the tax
dodgers, the politicians and the bankers who caused this financial crisis
and who continue to profit.

We are supposed to have a democratic right to protest yet people like us,
exercising that right and expressing our discontent feel the force of the
law and receive harsh and disproportionate sentences.

We have been convicted of Aggravated Trespass, an example of a law created
in the 1990 s as an attack on our rights to protest and which is used in
situations like this one to turn protesting into a crime.

We will, of course, continue to fight this and will be appealing the
judgement.

As the government’s cuts continue to destroy the economy and people’s lives
we will not be put off by these attempts at humiliating and punishing us.



The defendants recieved ‘conditional discharges’ and fines, and a
collective total of £10,000 debt towards ‘prosecution’s costs’.

You can donate to the campaign here:
http://fortnum145.org/2011/06/26/donate/
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