Solidarity, Food and Films

18 arrests as Mansion is evicted & drones conference resisted

Report and statement from members of Bristol Defendant Solidarity, ABC & Afed:

Squatters face up to riot police after the illegal morning eviction on Sunday 1st April

After losing to a possession order in court from the Bank of Scotland, squatters held another party at Clifton Wood House that ended with 11 arrests. At about 6am, police gained entry to the £3 million mansion under the Criminal Justice Act due to noise complaints, where they were met by a crowd of 35 angry ravers. The party goers then successfully resisted attempts to shut down the party by charging the cops to remove them from the building. Police responded by calling backup involving 50 officers, who closed off Clifton Wood Road, and proceeded to illegally evict the squatters from their home and seize sound equipment.

This led to a series of arrests from public order to assault pc as individuals attempted to resist the police led eviction. The video shows someone bleading from the nose during arrest and being threatened with a taser, followed by another person being dragged off in a neck lock by an officer defending himself armed with CS spray. Currently five people ranging from 17-19 years old have now been charged; two with assault pc (one who also has resisting arrest) and another two with section 5 offenses.

The next day in the centre a noise demo outside the 27th International Bristol Drone Conference consequently led to more arrests. Starting at around 9am on Telephone Avenue, by about midday around 80 people were making a loud racket with a sound system, pots and pans and a live band. Members of Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Bristol Against Arms Trade, Smash EDO and Bristol Amnesty took part in the action in solidarity with those facing drone attacks abroad in state warfare. Drone attacks have led to thousands of civilian casualties in conflict areas, and are often referred to as “remote killing machines”.

Monday 2nd April: People stood on windows frames banging windows looking in as warmongers attempted to eat lunch in peace.

A Palestinian flag was promptly hung at Armada House where the conference was taking place as people stood on windows frames banging windows to cause maximum disruption, while several arms dealers relied on the cops to leave due to the attention given by activists who pursued the warmongers around town. In response police arrived at 2pm with 5 support vans, initially seizing the sound system, then blocking off Marsh Rd before advancing from Baldwin Street towards Telephone Avenue after also blocking the road. They began attacking the demonstration, who strongly resisted being moved, leading to 7 people being arrested/detained on various different charges. These included public nuisance, public order, breah of the peace, obstruct pc and assault pc, as well as someone re-arrested in relation to the Clifton eviction.

Video | Pictures

Four out of the seven people arrested were eventually taken to to trinity road police station, after which activists held a solidarity demonstration outside the main entrance. The demo was lively with music and a fire place made from a washing machine drum to keep themselves warm. When police came out to demand that the fire be extinguished, protesters simply picked up the drum and moved it across to the roundabout much to the annoyance of the police who were having to carry a bucket of water. This happened again a few moments later when the fire was moved back to it’s original place and the police came out in larger numbers with an idle threat to call the fire service. By the end of this rather humorous game the police went inside to ‘research’ laws on contained public fires.

Eventually three out of four of the people arrested were released on bail with ridiculous conditions, for example a suspect was not allowed to congregate with 3 or more persons at a time. A bit weird, but it is the Avon and Somerset police we’re talking about here. The remaining person in custody was held overnight and was due in court the following morning. Additionally 3 people waited outside Southmead police station where others were taken, as nervously paranoid police covered up numbers plates on exiting the compound – concerned an anarchist database was being created!

As a result of the protest two activists are fighting the cases in court, while one person has been fined £150 for a section 5 offence (causing ‘alarm, harassment or distress’), someone accepting a caution, and another bound over for breach of the peace but charged with vandalizing a police cell.

It goes without saying Bristol Defendant Solidarity, Bristol Anarchist Black Cross and Bristol Anarchist Federation express full solidarity with all those arrested, charged and otherwise violently repressed by the police over these two days. While other groups may keep their distance, we will continue to support individuals through the courts and with their fines.

A benefit gig has already been organised to support the anti-drone and clifton defendants (full details to be announced very soon) while squatters and activists aim to legally oppose the eviction and police response to the noise demo, which were both caught on camera. Furthermore there is a march in solidarity with squatters facing evictions, charges & additionally threatened with homeless through the criminalisation of squatting.

Meet 1pm on Saturday 14th April @ Metropolis Stokes Croft to defend our squats!

March in solidarity with squatters facing violent evictions & charges

Whatever they say, squatting will stay!

The House of Lords recently passed a bill effectively making it illegal to squat in residential buildings. The new law could come into place as early as May!
The time for petitions & lobbying is over!
Solidarity with those facing eviction and repression from the state!
It’s time to act!

Fight the anti-squatting bill!
Assemble 1pm outside Metropolis, Stokes Croft
Saturday 14th April

Message about Luciano Demo

From Bristol Indymedia: Original Message

On Wednesday 21st March people from Bristol gathered to show solidarity with imprisoned Comrade Luciano Tortuga. This demonstration was called to coincide with the call-out for a Global Week of Solidarity starting on Tuesday 20th March.

Around 15-20 people gathered outside Bristol Central Library early in the morning with leaflets and a banner which read: “Solidarity! Luciano Tortuga! ¡Viva La Lucha En Chile!” The intended target was the Chilean Consulate in Bristol, which was located just a few streets away. After much confusion we discovered the Consulate, but were dismayed to find it only to be a small flat in a block of flats, on a narrow alleyway with no foot traffic.

Disappointed, people left. There were no attempts made to take a photograph of the demonstration at this point. The group wandered off and we began to think of other viable targets in the town centre which we could visit instead. Sadly nobody made the obvious connection between Luciano’s case and Santander bank, which has a branch in Bristol City Centre.

People left the demonstration and decided to go and join another protest that had been called in town for that same day. The group ended up forming a protest outside the local hospital against the recent privatisation of the national health service, which had happened the previous night.

People from the solidarity demo did later visit a film screening and infonight about the Chilean Struggle where the banner could be displayed and the leaflets handed out to people at the event.

Apologies for the lateness of this report. We would like to say sorry to Luciano and all other Chilean comrades for not posting this sooner.

In Solidarity.

Solidarity demands from Jock Palfreeman

G’day mates! 27/01/12

For those of you who can make it, 15th March, Bulgarian Embassy, 11am-2pm, London.

Dear Comrades at ABC Brizzle,

As of around August 2011 I have been convicted without right of appeal in the highest court of Bulgaria. I was left with a 20 year sentence in maximum security prison. However, what did change in the court’s decision was that unlike the first court’s verdict, the court of appeal ruled that there were Roma present and there was a “physical fight between the Roma and the group of boys”. Seeing as the roma were 2 and the group of boys were 15 the use of the word “fight” is being stretched. The neo-nazis from South Division Levski Ultras have denied that there was a “fight” with Roma and even deny that Roma were there at all. Yet the appeal court although contradicting the nweo-nazis on this point went on to claim that the statements from the neo-nazis were truthful. Strangely, the crux of the prosecutor’s arguments was that there was no fight betwen the neop-nazis and the roma and there weren’t even Roma there, hence the accusation against me that I attacked them without cause. This was also the excuse given by the investigator and prosecutor for not bringing the Roma to court as witnesses. Now however the court has ruled that Roma were there and that yes there was a physical fight between the roma and the neo-nazis, but the court stops short at discreditting the neo-nazis as witnesses and made no attempt to find these “new” witnesses. Until today the only evidence used to proseucte me were the statements from the neo-nazis themselves. There is no other collaborating evidence or witnesses to the indictment or court findings that I “for no reason attacked 15 men with the intent to kill them.”

I have not changed my explanation of events from the beginning, and they remain the same after 4 years of being kidnapped by the Bulgarian state, that is that I witnessed the 15 neo-nazis all attack 2 Roma due to the colour of their skin, I intervened to defend the 2 Roma, the 15 neo-nazis then attacked me and I defended myself.

For these reasons and many more we are trying to revitalise the solidarity movement with my case and all the connotations that my case involves ie. racismn, violent neo-nazi gangs and their mates who defend them in the corrupt police, corrupt courts and the corrupt prisons system. The neo-nazis wouldn’t be able to attack people on the streets if it wasn;t for the protection offered them by the police and courts. It’s telling when hundereds of the state’s agents are needed to stop me, a lone individual. however, against their hundreds I have mortality, I am right and they are in the wrong and this is why it takes so many of them.

I am putting out a call to action to all those opposed to racism both on the street and in it’s institutionalized form of fascism. This March 2012 organise yourselves to the Bulgarian embassies or consuls in your cities. Let the Bulgarian state know that the matter is yet settled and that you don’t recognise the court’s decision to incarcerate me and protect the racists.

I am also trying to transfer to Australia so as be closer to my family and to escape the persecution against me by the prisons administration at the behest of those connected with my case, yet the Head Prosecutor-Boris Velchev and his lap dog prosecutor Krassimira Velcheva have alread tried to coerce me into retracting my transfer request. I refused to retract my request and as such the Prosecutor’s Office of Bulgaria is refusing to answer my rquests based on Bulgarian laws to transfer to Australia.

March 2012 solidarity demands are:
-Jock’s case is re-opened due to missing evidence primarily the two Roma witnesses/victims
-The neo-nazis are punished for their past race hate crimes and prevented from committing more
-Jock is allowed to transfer to Australia and all foreigners who wish to transfer to their countries

Letters of demand can be sent to the following relevant addresses:

-Head prosecutor of Bulgaria, Boris Velchv, No.2 Vitosha Boulevard, Sfoai 1061 Bulgaria
-Directorate of International Legal Assistance and European Integration, Krassimira Velcheva No.2 Vitosha Boulevard, Sofia 1061 Bulgaria
-Minister for Justice, Diana Kovacheva, No.1 Slavanska Street, Sofia 1040, Bulgaria
-Prime Minister if Bulgaria, Boiko Borrisov, No.2 Dondukov street, Sofia 1123, Bulgaria
-President of Bulgaria, Rosen Plevneviev, No.2 Slavanska street, Sofia 1040 Bulgaria
-Ministry of Foreign Affairs, No.29 “6th September” street, Sofia 1000 Bulgaria

Solidarity to all my comrades both outside and inside!

Jock Palfreeman

March 21st: Solidarity demo for Luciano Tortuga

Poster | Leaflet

SOLIDARITY DEMONSTRATION FOR TORTUGA & THE REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE IN CHILE! WEDNESDAY 21ST MARCH
Meet 11:30AM outside Bristol Central Library

Luciano Pitronello, or “Tortuga” as his friends call him, was seriously injured on June 1, 2011 when an explosive device accidentally detonated as it was being placed at the entrance of a Santander bank in Santiago, Chile. After months of hospitalization and rehabilitation, he was indicted on two criminal charges related to the explosive device. His trial is scheduled to begin in April 2012.

The state prosecution has asked for a 15-year prison sentence for the comrade Luciano ‘Tortuga’, 12 years for terrorist offenses – use of an explosive device – and 3 years for using false license plates on the motorcycle used for the action. The trial is expected to begin in April. Tortuga is now in the Santiago 1 prison, in the hospital section.

Tortuga is an vegan anarchist committed to the struggle for animal and earth liberation.

We call for international solidarity , because we recognize neither borders not patriotism. let’s use every weapon against isolation!

March 15th Solidarity Demo for Jock Palfreeman

Jock Palfreeman Solidarity Demo

photo from a solidarity demo in Moscow

Thursday 15th March 2012. 11 am

Demonstrate outside the Bulgarian Embassy in solidarity with Jock Palfreeman the young Australian man who was set up by the Bulgarian police and criminal justice system after he stepped in to stop an attack on a young Roma in December 2007. Jock Palfreeman was sentenced in December 2007 to 20 years in Bulgaria’s notorious Sofia Central Prison.

See the Free Jock website for in-depth information and analysis about Jock Palfreeman’s trial and imprisonment.

11 a.m. Bulgaria Embassy. 186-188 Queen’s Gate. London. SW7 5HL

Watch the One Night in Sofia documentary for interviews with Jock Palfreeman, his family and supporters.

Check the 5 minute interview with Professor Dave Barclay, forensics expert.

Jock Palfreeman Solidarity Demo. Thursday 15th March. 11am. Bulgarian Embassy – LONDON.

Jock Palfreeman Solidarity Demo. Thursday 15th March 2012. 11 am. London

Demonstrate outside the Bulgarian Embassy in solidarity with Jock Palfreeman the young Australian man who was set up by the Bulgarian police and criminal justice system after he stepped in to stop an attack on a young Roma in December 2007. Jock Palfreeman was sentenced in December 2007 to 20 years in Bulgaria’s notorious Sofia Central Prison.
See the Free Jock website for in-depth information and analysis about Jock Palfreeman’s trial and imprisonment.
Watch the One Night in Sofia documentary for interviews with Jock Palfreeman, his family and supporters.
Check the 5 minute interview with Professor Dave Barclay, forensics expert.

11 a.m. Bulgaria Embassy.
186-188 Queen’s Gate.
London.
SW7 5HL

googlemap of bulgarian embassy

HMP Bristol NYE 2011 Prison Solidarity Demo

The evening started with a group of 20-25 people marching up Gloucester Road, Bristol to HMP Bristol in Horfield. They arrived at the Golden Lion Pub at 11.20pm and began to circle the outside of the prison. Once the group had reached the other side of the prison where inmates could see and hear the group they stopped.

“Happy New Year” and “Fuck the Screws” was chanted over the walls. Fireworks were fired into the prison courtyard. People then climbed up onto an outer wall and made noise by hitting the fence with hands feet and rocks.

Around midnight the first police vehicle arrived with 2 officers who came over to talk to the crowd. Everybody stood their ground and the soundsytem was then led away from the police to prevent them from nicking it. Another police vehicle then arrived with 3 more officers who quickly came over to the two other officers who by this time were surrounded, whereupon without warning they began to pepperspray people in the face and take people to the ground with batons in their hands. During this time more police vehicles arrived. A few people were hit with batons. Some stood trying to de-arrest others and support their mates who had been pepper-sprayed. Once the majority of the people had realised that the police had taken control of the situation people decided to remove the soundsystem and themselves from the area. People got away but 4 were arrested. Each arrestee had an individual vehicle to themselves.

As people were retreating shouts and banging (presumably from inmates) could be heard from within the prison walls, and the floodlights and hall-lights all lit up.

At the moment all the arrestees are out. One person was released charged with assault of a police officer, one was charged with obstruction of a police officer, one person was charged with various crimes including assault on a police officer, section 5 and criminal damage to a police video camera (which would hold evidence to the whole situation), the last person was held until late evening on the 1st of January 2012 due to not complying with the police. They all have unconditional bail.

People heard at the police station that there was a backlog of arrests because trouble had flared at a new years free party which the officers said they’d had to retreat from because of the large numbers of ravers they faced.

People stood outside Trinity Police station until all the 4 arrestees were released the next day.

Support Imprisoned Comrades: The Toronto G20 “Main Conspiracy Six”

On November 22, 2011, six of our friends pled guilty to counselling charges for organising to disrupt the Toronto G20 summit in June, 2010. On November 28, 2011, Erik Lankin, Adam Lewis and Peter Hopperton were each sentenced to 3-5.5 months in jail. Leah Henderson expects to be sentenced to 10 months on December 20, 2011. Mandy Hiscocks expects to be sentenced to 16 months on January 13. Alex Hundert expects to be sentenced to 13.5 months, date to begin TBA.

Click here to follow the link to a support flyer for the “Main Conspiracy Six” facing imprisonment.

Click here to read the collective statement of the G20 Main Conspiracy Group, individual statements of co-defendants, and statements read to the courts.

Guelph Anarchist Black Cross is providing some of the support for these comrades. We are fundraising money to facilitate meeting the everyday and immediate needs of comrades facing jail and of their support networks. Specifically, we will be putting money towards: sending letters and reading materials to those incarcerated; transportation costs for family, friends and supporters visiting them; collect phone call bills; canteen; rent money when they get out; and storage for their belongings. We need help providing funds for this material support.

Here’s how to donate to the Guelph ABC G20 Support Fund:

1. Paypal: guelphabc@riseup.net or click the button on http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com

2. Deposit cash to the following TD bank account: Transit # 00182, Institution # 004, Account # 00185228263.

3. Write a cheque or money order to Guelph ABC with G20 in the memo line.

Mail to the PO box below.

Letters to comrades in jail is encouraged, to help them stay connected to struggles and communities, and to break the isolation inherent in prisons. It is possible that folks will be moved between jails during their incarceration. We will try to keep their addresses updated on our website. You can also send letters to the address below and we will forward them. When writing letters, remember that they will be read by prison guards.

Guelph ABC, PO Box 183, Guelph, ON, N1H 6J6, Canada.

Check out http://guelphprisonersolidarity.wordpress.com for regular updates and more information. Your support and solidarity is deeply appreciated. Most importantly, keep up the struggle. In solidarity with anarchist prisoners worldwide, and all prisoners fighting for freedom.