After the events of the last few days, there are calls for the resignations of the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Cressida Dick, and the London Mayor, Sadiq Khan. I don’t think anyone would be too upset if there were resignations but for anarchists, the problems of policing are not about individuals.
Freedom’s resident cop-botherer, Carl Spender, sits down with John and Kat from Bristol Copwatch to discuss the group’s first year of existence and the painstaking work of building a grassroots police monitoring project. Please be aware that this article contains descriptions of racist police violence. CS: I guess it’s traditional to begin with some introductions.
Netpol’s Kevin Blowe argues that Britain’s nascent abolitionist movement needs to focus its energy into long-term grassroots organising, not top-down academic debate. Ever since the rebirth of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, it has been far from clear that the demand to “defund the police” will resonate in Britain as it has in
Carl Spender examines the details of the Stansted 15 judgement and – with his usual dourness – finds a lot to be disappointed about. As readers of Freedom are no doubt aware: earlier this week, activists who blocked a deportation flight at Stansted Airport in 2017 had their convictions for “intentional disruption of services at
Yesterday evening officers from the Met’s infamous Territorial Support Group shut down a protest called in memory of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan, a 24 year old black man who died following police contact in Cardiff last Saturday. Using powers granted to them by the Health Protection regulations, officers moved quickly to disperse the assembly, issuing spot
The Conservative government is planning to introduce major changes to public order legislation to crack down on protests, under a new “Protection of the Police and Public Bill” planned for 2021. In September, Home Secretary Priti Patel denounced environmental campaigners Extinction Rebellion as “so-called eco-crusaders turned criminals” at the Police Superintendents’ Association conference and, at
I’ll keep this brief, as whatever I say here will no doubt be out of date within a week. On Wednesday night, parliament approved The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 which legally enforces England’s second coronavirus lockdown. With respect to protest, the legislation is deeply confused and confusing, in that it
This article discusses racist police violence and deaths in custody. As readers are doubtlessly aware: in the early hours of Friday morning a police officer was shot and killed in Croydon custody centre. While the details surrounding the incident are still unclear, cops and their right wing cheerleaders are already using it as an opportunity
This week, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, Robert “fuck the law” Buckland QC, launched a new white paper A Smarter Approach to Sentencing, which outlines the government’s latest proposals for punishing law breakers who aren’t members of the Tory party. Keen to spare us the misery of digesting all 115 pages
Update 16/09/20 – Shortly after the article below was published, the government reduced the maximum size of (most) legal gatherings from 30 to 6. Nonetheless, the guidance it offers remains sound (so long as you remember to replace all references to “more than 30 people” with “more than 6”). That said, anyone seeking information on
SHAG has been fighting for both of Sheffield's universities to cut all ties with the arms trade and the Ministry of Defence for over two years.
On Wednesday a meeting about antifascism in Stockholm was attacked by a group of Nazis.
When people treat each other like human beings, what they share in the aftermath of destruction is not so much the spectacle of destruction itself but the vital joy of life that has been ripped away.
The law firm is the fifth company to end associations with the Israeli weapons maker in recent months.
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