Everyone’s getting in on the act
Posted By fotdmike on September 4, 2009
Open letters to the police seem to be the thing to be doing nowadays. Last month there was the “Open letter to the Met” from the Camp for Climate Action.
Now, with the arms trade protests in London literally just a few days away, we have another open letter to the police from Disarm DSEi.
We Will Not Negotiate – An Open Letter to the Police from Disarm DSEi
Posted on Thursday 3 September 2009
To: Public Order Unit
New Scotland Yard
To Whom It May Concern:
Since our inception in 2003, Disarm DSEi has adopted not negotiating with the police as a founding principle.
Whilst we still adhere to this principle, we are aware all the major bodies who have compiled reports into the aftermath of the G20 protests have recommended greater levels of negotiation and communication between police and protesters.
Therefore, we are writing this open letter to explain why we do not feel able to enter into negotiation regarding the 8th September Disarm DSEi protest in the City of London.
The right to protest is one of the civil liberties we are supposed to hold dear, one of the civil liberties not afforded to many of the citizens of the countries the UK sells arms to. However, this right has to come without interference from the very state we are opposing. The UK government support the global arms trade, and it controls the police force –ensuring that the arms dealers reach their destinations and their investors are not embarrassed or inconvenienced will always come before allowing public dissent.
However, even if we wished to negotiate, we are not in a position to do so. We do not believe a protest is controlled by organisers and stewards, but by the will and feeling of the crowd. We are facilitating a protest but we are not in control of any of the actions undertaken by the participants, nor do we want to be. We cannot make any commitments and we cannot undertake to condone or condemn any particularly form of action.
Experience at previous DSEi protests has led us to mistrust the police. DSEi was the protest where the police began to make use of Section 44 Terrorism Act searches. DSEi policing has been violent, intimidating, and repressive. Use of kettling has been widespread, as have arbitrary arrests and harassment of “known” activists.
Furthermore, there are no individuals within the collective who are willing to identify themselves as an “organiser” of this protest. Previous experience has shown such people are targeted by the police for further harassment and intimidation, and/or have been threatened with or arrest for the actions of others at demonstrations. At some recent protests, people sitting in a road have been threatened not just with their arrest, but of the arrest of the stewards on the march.
On 8th September at noon, we will assemble in the City of London and assert our right to protest against the investors in death, without state interference.
See you on the streets,
Disarm DSEi
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