“they've been pushing for this since the start, shit is **** OK?”
Yesterday evening Liverpool City Council were meeting to decide the next round of brutal cuts that they'd inflict on the most vulnerable sections of our community (cuts that included getting rid of the school uniform allowance that allows the poorest families to clothe their children for school and drastically reducing the funding to child and adolescent mental health services in the city, basically taking nurses away from unwell children, bastards). Myself and Simon got on our bikes and went to join a demonstration outside the town hall to voice our opposition to this tragedy, we got there and met friends and talked and joked and tried to stay warm, before we joined the chanting and jeering that aimed to disrupt the meeting and let the councilors know we were there and we were disgusted by them.
Within minutes a police officer was antagonising a guy from Occupy Liverpool before turning his attention to us, to ask what the red and black meant and to question if we were we from some new organisation, we offered a fairly abridged version of the theory after making him aware we knew he understood perfectly well what these flags stood for, not getting a reaction this bully left.
“it's been pretty dull this evening”
“yeah, we just haven't had the numbers, still it's important to be here”
“fucking hell, there's another Matrix van (Merseyside Police riot/crowd control) and loads more cops”
“shit they're gonna kettle.”
We watched as mounted police, backed by further van loads of police on foot, attempted to 'contain' a peaceful group of protesters and we all evaded this kettle and took up position in the road in protest against the police tactics. The aggression from the police was mounting and the fear among the demonstration palpable, with horses being used as weapons amid a total disregard for the right to protest and the safety of those present. They were here to destroy any dissent.
“get those animals of those horses”
“there's no excuse for animal abuse”
“the other horses won't talk to him now because they'll think he's a grass!”
There was no 'banter' back from the police, instead as the youngest contingent of the demonstration were warned of the dangers of sitting down in this situation, the police charged at them and attacked violently. I watched as one kid was grabbed from behind by a cop who had charged thirty yards by himself, the kid was violently brought to the ground and beaten, the kid tried to struggle against this grown man who made no attempt to arrest and seemed content to fight with the kid while other officers piled in and continued to brutalise him, before eventually arresting him. Fucking cowards. During this mounted police were used to block any attempts to rescue the young guy or to video and photograph what was going on, these cowards knew they were acting illegally and immorally and chants clearly echoed this sentiment.
“SHAME ON YOU! SHAME ON YOU!”
“No Justice. No Peace. Fuck The Police!”
A frenzy then followed as individuals seemed to be picked at random from the demonstration and arrested in the most violent manner, while desperate attempts were made to de-arrest the innocent victims of this brutal operation. Those arrested were remarkably young and it became clear that they were picked due to their involvement in the Occupy movement in the city, not for having committed any offence. Some were also undoubtedly picked because they were the least physically imposing and officers were able to wrestle them to the ground much easier than they would be able to if they had picked out adult members of the demonstration. A good friend of ours then came over, blood all over his face, he is a school student and one of the most eloquent and sincere young men I have ever met, a police officer had punched him.
“WE WON”T TAKE POLICE BRUTALITY!”
A frightening stand-off then ensued, as we stayed together in the face off ridiculous levels of violence from the police who had called in even more reinforcements from the Matrix (they now easily outnumbered the demonstration and were carrying tasers among other weapons). It became clear that we needed to leave as one to prevent any further injuries, these thugs weren't going to let up. As we walked off ,the demonstration over, the intimidation continued, as one young lady was surrounded by three officers threatening arrest for cycling on the pavement. We quickly circled the officers and made sure that no further injustices were to be carried out.
“Quick man, they've got their tasers out”
We walked through the city, until it was safe to disperse, followed by vans and police on foot, many carrying tasers. We made sure that no one left alone and said our goodbyes and vowed to return. Me and Simon got on our bikes and got some dinner and went home.
FUCK POLICE VIOLENCE
FUCK POLICE VIOLENCE
FUCK POLICE VIOLENCE
If being punk means anything, it means looking out for each other, it means dignity and equality, and it means standing up for ourselves and each other when our government are attacking us. It means resisting the brutal police thugs who hurt us, and refusing to stand down when they threaten us with the abhorrent violence of the prison system. It means resistance. x
