Tag Archives: blm protests

news, UK

Kill the bill protests this May Day – urgent support needed to defend rights

The government’s response to last year’s mass Black Lives Matter protests has been to produce a report denying the existence of institutional racism and to bring forward legislation to make many protests illegal.

The Police and Crime Bill would give to the police the power decide which protests are lawful and which are not, just like in Russia and China.

This is a blatant attack on our democratic right of freedom of assembly and the right to protest. We have to kill the bill.

The bill also targets the Roma and traveller communities – arguably some of the most marginalised communities in the UK.

But in truth there are only so many police and if the people say no and refuse to comply then their laws become a paper tiger.

The answer lies with resistance from black and white people together across all the social movements, such as Extinction Rebellion, the Women’s Movement (Justice for Sarah Everard, Nicole Smallman and Bibaa Henry!) and the trade union movement – and of course the Black Lives Matter movement.

Kill the Bill protests are taking place all over the UK today this May Day – join the fightback!

May Day is workers day – Black and white unite and fight!

Kill the bill protest – 1 May

London Trafalgar Square 12 noon

Aberystwyth Clock Tower 1pm

Bath Bath Abbey 2pm

Birmingham Victoria Square 11am

Brighton The Level 1pm

Bristol Castle Park 12 noon AND College Green 6pm

Cambridge Parkers Piece opposite police station 1pm

Chatham 11.30am top of Church St

Chichester Priory Park 12 noon

Coventry Broadgate 1pm

Eastbourne Hyde Gardens 1pm

Edinburgh The Pavilion Cafe 3.30pm

Exeter Bedford Square 1pm

Harlow Town Park showground 2pm

Hastings Cornwallis Gardens 12 noon

Haverfordwest Picton Fields 1pm

Lancaster Dalton Square 11.30am

Leamington Pump Room Gardens 1pm

Leeds Woodhouse Moor 3pm

Liverpool Derby Square 12 noon

Lowestoft opposite WH Smith 12 noon

Luton Market Hall 1pm

Manchester St Peter’s Square 4pm

Margate Nayland Rock Shelter 1pm

Middlesbrough Centre Square 1pm

Newcastle Grey’s Monument 1pm

Northampton Cobblers Last Statue, town centre, 1pm

Norwich City Hall 1pm

Nottingham Pavilion on Forest Recreation Ground 12 noon

Oxford Manzil Way Green 3pm

Plymouth Charles Cross police station 2pm

Portsmouth Guildhall Square 12 noon

Sheffield Devonshire Green 1pm

Shrewsbury The Quarry 1pm

Southampton Bargate 12 noon

Southend top of Pier Hill 1.30pm

Stoke outside Hanley bus station 1pm

Taunton Great Western hotel car park 12 noon

Tower Hamlets Bethnal Green Gardens 10.30am rally before attending central London demo

Truro Lemon Quay 2pm

Winchester Police station, top of High Street, 12 noon

York Minster 1pm

More updates here

Kill the bill!

news, US

Feds repression in Portland faces growing resistance

For two months there have been daily protests against racial inequality and police brutality in Portland, Oregon.

Police repression has not been enough to stop the protests and so Trump has upped the ante, as he makes a bid to turn law and order into an election issue from which he can benefit, such is his cynicism.

But last night saw thousands of citizens on the streets as the movement widens not just as a protest for black lives but against the violent repression of the Fed forces, in the shape of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol agencies.

Both agencies have become heavily militarised over the years and are now being used against ordinary US citizens, in action lawmakers condemn as illegal.

Federal units have been operating as if in a war zone and using the tactics and operational procedures befitting of a full-blown dictatorship.

Protesters have been snatched and arrested by individuals dressed in unmarked camouflage suits. Eighteen now face serious Federal charges, raising the stakes further.

Portland citizens shot, gassed and clubbed by Trump stormtroopers

Peaceful citizens, including the city’s major, armed services veterans and a peaceful contingent of all-women protesters, have been tear-gassed and/or clubbed by the Feds.

As seen elsewhere in the US, the press has also been a frequent target of law enforcement bodies.

So-called non-lethal weapons that can in fact be lethal depending on how they are used, have been deployed with wild abandon by Federal forces acting as an out of control occupying force in the city.

Attempts to get judges to rule the deployment of the violent Fed troops illegal have failed so far.

The protest movement is overwhelmingly white, and that’s what probably riles Trump and his stormtroopers more than anything else.

Activists are attempting to organise for strikes in the city to drive out the Feds.

Cutting off all services to the Fed buildings in the city and the associated troops that were brought in under the pretence of protecting that property, could be a highly effective approach.

The people of Portland urgently need solidarity of the BLM movement and others from around the US and abroad.

Watch this space for further developments.