¥ POLICE RECLAIM THE STREETS In our last issue, we mentioned the police attack and arrests made at the end of the first Reclaim The Streets party in Camden. It was interesting to us that most people who attended the event were completely unaware of the injuries and prisoners resulting from that attack and everyone thought that the event passed off so well. With dubious inevitability, our report from the second Reclaim The Streets on 23rd July in Angel, Islington features a more vicious re-run of the first action. From reading about it in the national daily paper, you wouldnÕt know that at 8.15pm, riot cops (the Territorial Supprt Groups - TSGÕs) attacked the last 150 of the crowd at Angel and pushed it, via truncheon charges, all the way to Kings Cross. You wouldnÕt read that 50 minutes before the charge, at least 18 vans of TSG officers were parked up near Upper Street, a seemingly lot of tooled-up coppers for the afternoonÕs very laid-back action. Cop camera teams were everywhere, on buildings and in the line of riot cops, filming people, replaying the tape then and there and sending in snatch squads to arrest chosen people. At the bottom of Pentonville Rd, the crowd was lead by a series of calls into Northdown St (us or them? - it seemed a dumb place for the crowd to turn into with Kings Cross right up ahead), where vans and cops, already waiting, blocked in the crowd. Those detained were searched and released in small amounts. It was a massacre really with 13 folks eventually charged and two people in Brixton prison awaiting bail. ¥ WAKE UP AND SMELL THE COPÕS BREATH contraFLOW doesnÕt condemn anyone who tries to resist police attack, in fact weÕve nailed our colours to the fluufies head in previous issues, but this time there just wasnÕt the numbers or the time for sussing out tactics and the cops were totally prepared for it seeing as they obviously wanted a public order situation. It was certainly clear that they waited a long, long time before attacking the crowd. It suggests, where one minute a line of ÔnormalÕ cops is directing a crowd down the road, to the sudden arrival and baton charge of the TSGÕs, that the whole cop operation was a set-up whose purpose can only be guessed at. Where they just pissed off that we blocked the Angel all day and partied? Were they sending a message to us that we shouldnÕt expect to do it again? Do they just want to spoil our fun and get in a bit of live public order training? Or are they really just sussed that a few hardcore lurk around seeing if thereÕs any chance of a ruck and they want to make sure they film and photograph them all. Extensive film and video was shot by the piggly-wigglies of people doing stuff and of individuals who were trying to help those being arrested. contraFLOW is super-interested in receiving any decent info or analysis of what the cops are up to, hand in hand with private security firms, concerning the dramatic increase in surveillance theyÕve been doing on us at demos and actions. ItÕs becoming standard for the cops to detain people at demos, photo albums in their hands with pictures from the Welling and Hyde Park riots, looking for suspects. Remember! and this may well keep you out of prison - Never do anything at a riot without being masked up. ¥ L.D.M.G - will keep us free ! On the day, absolutely brilliant work was done by the Legal Defence And Monitoring Group, who acted as legal observers and were well in the thick of the police attack, making notes and trying to help those being arrested. This group is an inspiration to us all, offering unconditional support and aid to those arrested at actions. They are continuing to help those nicked at the first Street Party whoÕs cases come to court in August and October. They always need money for the Bust Fund and volunteers to act as observers. Resistance isnÕt just about those on the outside, itÕs about supporting those who get imprisoned along the way. Such common sense now seems to be penetrating the radical Green movement. Until all are free, we are all imprisoned - you know the slogan! Contact: LDMG, BM Box Haven, London, WC1N 3XX. ÔNEW ROAD LAYOUTÕ The Reclaim The Streets party itself was brilliantly organised, the roads blocked and banners hung quite miraculously efficiently, with up to 2000 people partying all day to sound systems, live acts and a huge deposit of sand was dumped in the car-free, exhaust-free road making a great kids play area. It was good to see something extraordinary for once and it certainly was that. A road sign someone brought and erected at the party, reading ÔCHANGED PRIORITIES AHEADÕ seemed to sum up the entire event and the determination to make our lives something worth living. The next Street Party will be huge...keep Ôem peeled. Reclaim The Streets, ??? 2 Crossway, London N??? ADD IN ADDRESS