BBC footage identifies police agent crossing line during cuts protest
Footage shot by the BBC inadvertently catches an unidentified man walking up to police constables during a fracas, showing his identification, and quickly walking off beyond police lines.
Watch
The man is unlikely to be a journalist since he’s dressed in gear that covers his face and head, while carrying nothing that looks like a notebook or a camera.
The video was shot by a BBC News helicopter during coverage of the protests away from the main TUC march on Saturday.
(above video edited with Political Scrapbook. Found via @aaronjohnpeters)
The original BBC video (segment 5m50s in).
Agent provocateurs
In January this year the Met Police admitted that it had posted covert officers at the G20 protests last year, despite initially saying it had not.
We had no plain-clothes officers deployed within the crowd. It would have been dangerous for them to put plain clothes officers in a crowd like that. The only officers we deploy for intelligence purposes at public order are forward intelligence team officers who are wearing full police uniforms with a yellow jacket with blue shoulders. There were no plain clothes officers deployed at all.
That was later admitted to be wrong.
The Met has been under criticism after six police officers were unmasked after infiltrating environmental groups. A campaign called No Police Spies was launched in response.
The Met police have yet said nothing about using covert officers on Saturday.
Could Ireland finally force banks to take a share of the pain?
contribution by David Malone
The Irish are now openly saying they want to make the Senior bond holders take some of the bank losses. That is most definitely not in the European Financial Class’s game plan.
Neither France nor Germany nor the UK will like the sound of it. Because for senior bond holders read their banks, big funds and insurance companies. Not only would it be a very public humiliation but it would also tell the world which banks were weakest. Ireland doesn’t even have to go through with it. They need only engender a worry that they might.
continue reading… »
Saturday’s protests and incidents of violence
As previously noted, I have no problem per se with political violence.
Its use and justification must be assessed on a case-by-case basis, with reference to myriad factors such as likelihood to succeed, ability to justify harm to victims, long-term advantages gained, greater evils averted, and so on.
But certainly not all instances of political violence fit this model. When the so-called “Black Bloc” of anarchist militants attacked stores on Oxford Street yesterday they were not part of a (para)military organised hierarchy with a leadership exercising strategic-tactical judgement – still less the militant wing of the 250,000 peaceful marchers congregating in Hyde Park.
continue reading… »
Why Ed Miliband was right to attend Saturday’s TUC march
The television and press images of smashed windows from Saturday’s events must have made the Tories jump with joy. Some on the Labour right may also mutter ‘we told you so‘ for not predicting such incidents in advance. There were advance mutterings already.
But despite the media juxtaposition, it’s important not to be caught up in the short-term media cycle. There are important, long term reasons why Ed Miliband was right to speak at the TUC event.
continue reading… »
What happened after I got arrested on Saturday
Yesterday, I was arrested outside Fortnum & Mason after the UK Uncut protest, on suspicion of Aggrevated Trespass and Criminal Damage. Below is a summary of my experiences.
When we were inside Fortnum & Mason, the police said if we left we would not be arrested. At 6pm or so, we left, together. The police kettled us outside the shop. It then became clear that they were, one after another, leading people away to be arrested.
Eventually, it was my turn. I was placed in handcuffs, asked on camera for some basic details, then led down a side street by my arresting officers.
continue reading… »
HMRC boss dined by Vodafone over tax deal
Britain’s top tax official accepted hospitality from a mobile phone company’s financial advisers only weeks before a deal which allowed the firm to avoid up to £6 billion of tax liabilities.
Dave Hartnett attended a supper at the headquarters of accountancy firm Deloitte while negotiations were still ongoing over the amount of tax its client Vodafone would have to pay.
Three months later, in what has been described as an ‘unbelievable cave-in’, Mr Hartnett agreed Vodafone was not liable for vast amounts of tax on profits racked up by a subsidiary based in a tax haven.
The dinner was one of four meetings between the accountancy firm and Mr Hartnett which have come to light following a request under the Freedom of Information Act. Two of them took place shortly before the deal was agreed and the other two in the months afterwards.
Last night Deloitte refused to reveal the content of the discussions. A spokesman said: ‘We have frequent meetings with all of our regulators and Dave Hartnett is no exception to this.’
…more at the Daily Mail (non-ads link)
Saturday night inside the kettle
OK, I wasn’t there for all of it, and I am in no position to offer a definitive judgement on what happened in Trafalgar Square on Saturday night. But thanks to my possession of a press pass, the cops let me inside the kettle and I got a pretty good voyeur’s view of the proceedings. These are my impressions.
I did not see any serious violence, and that goes for both the protestors and the Old Bill. I’m not saying serious violence didn’t happen, just that I didn’t see it happen.
Ask me about aggressive behaviour, argy bargy and general unseemliness, and I’ll admit that the activists were hardly angels. But the policing was ridiculously heavy handed for much of the time.
UK confidence sinks in face of the Budget
41% of voters thought that Osborne’s Budget will be good bad for them, according to YouGov polling for the Sunday Times.
25% thought it was good for them.
More worryingly for the government, only 15% said it made them more confident about the future. A massive 43% said it made them less confident.
Those figures are unlikely to sustain consumer confidence or spending – the main driver of the economy.
It further found that only 10% of people expected their financial position to get better over the next 12 months. This is a huge fall from last year.
Furthermore:
- 59% think unemployment will increase in the next year or two.
- 57% think inflation won’t come down.
- 59% think poverty will increase.
- Only 27% think the government’s measures will make the economy grow faster in the long run.
UK Polling Report adds:
Amongst Conservative supporters, 70% think cuts are right or too small, 23% think they are right but too fast, only 3% think they are too large. Amongst Labour supporters only 3% think they are right or too small, 32% think they are right but too fast, 30% would prefer smaller cuts and more tax rises, 27% don’t think either large cuts or tax rises are necessary.
Pictures from TUC march & other actions
Some pictures from yesterday’s TUC march, and a few others from separate actions by UKuncut and other groups.
It’s the Fire fighters!
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Some nice entertainment for marchers
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Taken at from Temple tube station
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Blogger Laurence Durnan has his own special sign
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UKuncut highlight Boots tax avoidance
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Topshop defaced by trouble-makers
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Trouble-making anarchists!
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Blackbloc activists set fire to the paper trojan horse
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Street clowns
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Street threatre
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Street threatre
Watch: Occupation of Fortnum & Mason by UKuncut was peaceful
(occupation starts from 1m10s in)
Contrary to media reports yesterday of ‘violence’ by UKuncut supporters – a video from inside Fortnum and Mason yesterday shows it was entirely peaceful.
What took place inside was merely chanting, singing, dancing and putting up posters.
There was minor vandalism outside by others, but not a single UKuncut protest in the past has involved destroying property.
These non-violent protesters are now slowly being released by a police. A demo against police treatment took place earlier today in central London. Some protesters are still reportedly behind bars.
Update: As Anthony Painter points out:
Much of the civil rights movement would have been unlawful under S69 of the Criminal Just and Public Order Act 1994 http://bit.ly/dRFyOY
UKuncut protesters were arrested under the same law.
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