Freedom News

Judges leave DSEI defendants hanging over 2015 arms fair protest

After more than a year of putting eight anti-arms activists through stop-start legal shenanigans over whether they broke the law at a DSEI arms fair protest, judges at the High Court have reserved their decision, meaning another agonising wait. The eight, who participated in a sit-down protest at the arms fair in September 2015, had initially been acquitted in

Dirty energy resistance roundup: Court cases, blockades and police aggression

Court cases have opened today at Merthyr Tydfil court as prosecutions are brought against five Reclaim the Power and Earth First! activists for their action against Miller Argent’s Ffos-y-fran opencast coal mine last month [Update: They were ordered to pay £10,000 compensation]. The five “canaries” in the coal mine shut the site after chaining themselves to two

France: March against police killings unites the left

Over a hundred organisations from around the world, including a number of anarchist groups and British organisations, are backing the callout for a massive march in Paris to take place on March 19th against police brutality. Led by the families of people who have died at the hands of police and following on from weeks of

Crimethinc: A History of Anarchist Counter-Inaugural Protest

Thousands of protesters will stream into the streets of Washington, DC on January 20 to oppose the incoming presidency of Donald Trump. As they march, chant, unfurl their banners, and attempt to disrupt the inauguration, they step into a decades-long history of protests against the presidential spectacle. What follows is a history of anarchist counter-inaugural

Rallies kick off fortnight of action against mass deportations

A march through Brixton, South London today following on from Wednesday’s demonstration at the Nigerian High Commimssion has kicked off a two-week campaign by the Movement For Justice By Any Means Necessary against British charter flight deportations, used to forcibly expel migrants en masse. The campaign is part of an international action in Nigeria, Jamaica and

IWW picket against White and Case and outsourcing company Mitie against sacking of union official latest in actions against harassment of organisers

The London branch of the Industrial Workers of the World today staged a picket of the offices of law firm White and Case LLP against the sacking of Yolanda, a shop steward for the IWW. Mitie, the outsourcing company, claims that Yolanda’s conduct was the reason for her firing however she had never received any complaints

Avoiding Police Facilitation – promoting state unsanctioned protests

Police forces are big fans of peaceful protests. That is, protests that are led by organisers who do what they’re told, who stick to a pre agreed route and work with police liaison officers to identify those engaging in behaviour deemed unacceptable by the state. Needless to say the police version of protests are only

Only working-class self-organisation will kill the housing bill

With the Housing Bill about to come into effect, conditions are looking bleak for the working class. The Bill follows a plethora of attacks on poor people, the most notable of which are the benefit cap and the bedroom tax, not to mention the 2012 ban of residential squatting. Last year saw a record number