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news report
 Tuesday May 07, 2002 13:29 by smash the blue bloc
 RECLAIM THE STREETS ? Here are some tips on preparing yourself for a "white overalls" action. The idea is to help individuals defend themselves from assault by the agents of the state. Remember: the cops are trained to hurt people. Whenever you hear that two hundred people have been injured on a demonstration, you can safely assume they were not hurt by tripping up and grazing their knees. This may all sound quite scary, but it is better to be prepared for the depredations of the police than to run around with head wounds. Think: if we are not intimidated and if we are not injured, attacks will become self-defeating. We will be able to go home knowing that we have done the right thing: will they? People People are most vulnerable to assault and arrest when they are on their own: having at least one friend with you will mean they can watch your back while you watch theirs. The Wombles strongly recommend that people coming to a mass action are not on their own: find a friend who will come with you AND THEN NEVER LET THEM OUT OF YOUR SIGHT! Health: Water Water Water! Regardless of the weather conditions, being a Womble is a very hot business, so you must bring as much water as you can carry. Do not rely on helpful shopkeepers remaining open. You will need AT LEAST TWO LITRES. People with medical training should make themselves known to the wider group at the earliest opportunity. Likely injuries could include wounds from baton strikes to the head, face and upper body, crush injuries from police vans running over people, or from horse charges. Gas is unlikely to be used though some cops may have pepper spray or small amounts of CS gas. Overalls White overalls can be bought for about £3 ($6) each from DIY stores. They are easier to find in 'trade' shops like. New York Ya Basta! wear yellow overalls in solidarity with the yellow suits worn by chain-gang prisoners working on the streets in their country. Head! At secret training bases cops are instructed in how to cause maximum damage to an individual: smashing them repeatedly about the head and upper body with a two-foot long steel bar. This - not surprisingly - can be somewhat painful experience. The only rational response to such tactics is to wear some form of protective headgear. The best option is a motor cycle crash helmet (about £25 / $50), but these can restrict your sight. On the positive side, they offer all-round protection for your head and face. On the down side, they are almost impossible to smoke in! Builder's helmets (£4-£8 [$8 to $16] each, from DIY stores) are effective for direct head strikes but offer no protection to the side of the head, the face or your neck. Also, this type of helmet has no chin strap so they are easy to dislodge or lose. While not perfect, they are better than nothing. If you use one, remove the plastic frame inside it and replace it with some bubble wrap (2-3cm thick). You can then wrap tape around the top and around under your chin to make a chin strap. Don't make it too tight otherwise you wont be able to get it off! Bicycle helmets cost from £10 ($20) each, and offer better protection than builder's helmets and have the added advantage of having a strap to hold it on. Again, little face or neck protection but they are a good compromise solution. Body As all good Wombles should already know, the idea is to make good use of the things that everyday people leave behind. This includes old sofas, mattresses, bubble wrap and cardboard. For the body: take one sofa cushion and remove any external covering. Use a knife or scissors to cut the cushion in half down the center of the thin end, so that you have two pieces to form a front and back. Then cut a semi-circle out of the top of each piece to create a space for your head to go through. Use strong electrical tape to bind the two pieces together with as much overlap as possible to create double-thickness sections for your shoulders. The body piece can then be worn either within the white overall or over the top. If you wear it over the top you will need some rope or string to tie it around your body securely. Limbs People have been injured by being kicked or batoned across the shins. You could use cricket pads for your legs, or football shin pads, both available from sports shops. Hockey or American football gear works just as well, but is expensive. Skateboard protection (especially elbow, knee and wrist pieces) have been proven useful too. Knee pads can also be bought from DIY shops. Arm pieces can be made from bubble wrap, cushion foam and cardboard. Fold the card over a couple of times to make triple-ply sheet (about 50cm long x 20cm wide). Take a piece of cushion foam (about 20cm wide x 50cm long x 5cm deep) and tape the card sheet to it. Make sure that the cardboard is on the outside so that it will disperse the pressure from a blow. Wind the bubble wrap around your arm and the cushion/card to create sleeve; wrap tape around a few times to make it secure - not too tight as you will need to get it off at some point. The same approach can be used for making padding for your legs. Shields Trashcan lids are really good if you can find them, though you may need to do some work to make a comfortable strap to attach it to your arm. Alternatively, think inflatable: rubber dinghies have been used by Ya Basta! before (use loads of plastic packing wrap to bind six or seven of them lengthwise so that you have a wide group shield). Also, ask local garages / car workshops if they have any spare car wheel inner tubes. They usually cost (as second-hand) only 50p ($1) at most, and so a few of these taped to a bit of stiff board (or layered cardboard) can make an effective lightweight shield. Truck tire inner tubes make good, large defensive barriers, but can cost up to £20 ($40) each new (maybe try scrap metal merchants or car-breakers' yards for supplies). [From "Hot Wombling Tips" http://www.wombleaction.mrnice.net/tips.htm]
Further Tips on Physical Protection from Police Attacks Stuff to think about when making protection: 1. Duct tape (always useful), electrical tape, adhesive tape, super glue, regular glue, spray adhesive, twine, wire, staple gun, etc. 2. Gas masks, filters, respirators (like painters use, handkerchiefs with vinegar in zip-lock bags. 3. Some thing to protect your noggin. Here is a list from best to worse: Motorcycle helmet, army helmet, football helmet (face guard removed) or other sports helmets, bicycle helmet,or skating helmet, construction hard hat, batting helmet. 4. Paint: day-glo orange or yellow; red and black paint may also be useful. 5. Cloth or tarps for banners, the larger the better. 6. Shin guards, sports padding, martial arts padding, construction knee and elbow pads, etc. 7. Foam padding, carpet padding, rubber padding. 8. Chemical suits, rain gear (preferably yellow or orange). 9. Thick and padded gloves or mittens. 10. Raw materials for building DIY armor two-liter bottles, plastic 5-gallon buckets, foam, cushions, garbage cans or lids, etc. 11. Good footwear, boots are best, steel toe is great. 12. Warm thick clothing (to protect from weather and to add padding). 13. First aid equipment: bandages, gauze, anti-tear gas solutions in squirt bottles, etc. 14. Thin PVC piping to hold banners, long cardboard tubes, etc. 15. Tools: Bring lots of extras to an action because you should be able to swap for stuff you do not have or just help out our other comrades. Ear plugs are useful. They are cheap and will offer some protection against concussion grenades and other acoustic attacks. They are light and easy to use. It is also good to bring a paper, small pencils (golf or pew pencils) in case. At least one piece of paper should be in your shoe or somewhere else to avoid being taken if arrested. It sucks not having paper in jail. It is useful for all sorts of things. Sharpies are also a high demand item or any other permanent felt tip marker to write numbers on arms and clothing. People should add to these lists of things. It is key that people come defensively prepared and bring extras to trade and create a mutual aid network. [From "Protection" by New York Ya Basta! http://free.freespeech.org/yabasta/protection.html] |
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Comments (26 of 26)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26I hope the police arrest you and put you in jail for a long time. You are an anarchist and society does not want or need your special form of bullshit. Get A Job
very good... now you've really given the gardai a reason to beat you up, and arrest you. What are you smoking? Bloody hell. Youy dress up like that, and i'll come out with the gardai and help them.
Acting like that will surely convince the rest of ireland that your statements abt a peaceful demonstration is complete horse dung.
next you'll be calling out for the people to rise up, and bring abt a communist state. Get a life, or believe me your family after reading your post, might be loyal enough to irland, that'll lock you up for life in your garden shed.
reader, why do you bother coming here? do you like pissing yourself off, or do you just like a good whinge when you are bored in work? awwww poor reader is frightened of the nice hippies - someone give him a cuddle. calm down, its not that bad. and as for the 'communist state', bring it on! viva la revolucion!
reader, why do you bother coming here? do you like pissing yourself off, or do you just like a good whinge when you are bored in work? awwww poor reader is frightened of the nice hippies - someone give him a cuddle. calm down, its not that bad. and as for the 'communist state', bring it on! viva la revolucion
what are you talking about? We live in a republic. If you don't like the way we live follow the constitution to change it. Start up a party, and get elected. As for why i come here, well i was interested to see what you were saying abt the march. I've heard what people are saying both from your articles, and from the few gardai that i know. Surely you're not afraid of a single person disagreing with your God gifted right to give out abt the gardai? Oh ya, you want the revolution... god doesn't exist.
Where do you come up with this crap? If you have the right to comment on th gardai response then surely i do also..
Your comments were ignorant and rude - and that's your right as a friend of the gardai to be both ignorant and rude,but show some respect and at least engage us in a meaningful debate not this "you hippys are gay hippys" crap you keep coming out with.
Your comments were ignorant and rude - and that's your right as a friend of the gardai to be both ignorant and rude,but show some respect and at least engage us in a meaningful debate not this "you hippys are gay hippys" crap you keep coming out with.
look... i haven't said that "you hippys are gay hippys". I really don't care abt why you're marching. What i really cared abt is when you come out with statements abt the gardai in such broad terms. You're syaing the gardai should be disciplined for their actions? Fine, maybe. But i do believe that it was your march that caused that response? Otherwaise why would it have happened?
As for being ignorant and rude, have you not just shown your right be the same, by being a hippy. I have that right if i so choose. As do you. However i disagree with the concept that 300-400 people go on a march, cause some trouble, and when they get slapped down, they complain that the gardai shopuldn't have put the troublemakers in their place.
Think on this. Once the gardai were finished. The march continued. Am i wrong? or are you saying that the people that were arrested, or taken away from the march for a time, were not causing trouble?
were there no trouble makers at all? tell me this. I'm, interested to know. Can you honestly say that the gardai had no cause to stop the toublemakers for their acts?
the GARDAI were not attacking trouble makers they were attacking the March to try and stop us from marching. They were attacking us to get us off the road - in an indescriminate manner hitting men,women at least one child on my video and even a few tourists.
The gardai were not trying to get rid of trouble makers because as far as they were concerned all 400 of us were trouble makers.
If you did not want trouble you should have left the protest when the raods were blocked, or when the car was smoke bombed, or when refuse was thrown on the road. Your presence during these events gives the police every right to take what ever action is required to move you.
You live in a democracy, the people of Ireland do not want people like you disturbing the peace, thats why there are majority lawas against it
That sounds a bit much. The gardai don't get a good respnse from anyone, myself included, becuse they are part of the state, and represent the authority of the state. However i don't believe that they're the sort of force that will wade into a crowd with the intent to bring harm to women and children.
You have all said that my opinions are quite questionable in the previous posts, however i have to say the same of ye guys. You've posted quite regularly that you have little or no respect for gardai, or the state. RTE represent the state and therefore you won't receive any positive light from them. Well, that sounds a bit suspect.
If the gardai did in fact wade in attacking women and children, then i too will ask for them to be disciplined. However, i'm still a bit suspect of a group of people who to my knowledge
have never said anything good abt them.
we move stealth.
We are planning your down fall.
the beats are driving us.
The only party worth voting for the street party
At the beginning of the day the guards were fine professional etc. and it was later when the guarda presence swelled did a portion of the guards let loose.
When it comes down to it the inflaionary violence was on the guards side - no windows smashed, building set on fire, no one from the public were harassed (except until people began to come out of restraunts and pubs to yell at the guards beating people) by the protesters who at many stages resorted to chanting peaceful protest.
You werent there (unless adding to the guarda presence) so become informed before you judge.
...
we move stealth.
We are planning your down fall.
the beats are driving us.
The only party worth voting for the street party
..
this just adds to what i've said in previously. This does not sound very law abiding. Sounds quite anarchistic.
You werent there (unless adding to the guarda presence) so become informed before you judge..
i've already said that i wasn't there. But all i've heard so far is how the gardai waded into the protestors and broke them up without cause while doing great harm to the protestors.
However the gardai have alwys had a fairly good reputation when it comes to peacekeeping, and i'm to believe that they threw all that away for no reason? I'd like to know if the gardai were provoked. You've admitted a second ago that the gardai left you be for a good while, but moved in after a while. Why did they move in then? I definttly believe that they had a valid reaon for moving in as they did.
Now as for the damage they did, we'll i've already said that i disagree with their attack on women & children.
Will you get off the Garda e-mail system before your caught. write a letter to the telegraph or something
Fish... try to understand. I'm not using the garda ip. I have no connections to the Gardai, except having some friends that are such. Try again, and i'm using a private ip address.
My opinions are my own. I neither represent the gardai, nor do i wish to.
Ah well thats grand, keep up the ranting, Im off to the morrison for a spot of lunch. I think its chowder today, oh man I'd kill for a packet of skittles, No, wait, Judge Judy on the box, hold my calls, no in fact ive seen this episode so, what was it I was going to do, oh ya, write something I think.
lol... thats funny... cause when i opened up these articles, you guys were the ones ranting abt the guards... typical
whats that about the guards now?
There was a heavier garda presence at the time the violence started. It the same situation when a gang of drunk friends or bouncers give out a call and they all charge without rule. There was little garda co-ordination bar the trafic guys it liked like a case of 'hem these bastards in'.
I pointed out about the relatively light garda presence that was maintained throughout the day without little incident.
All it takes is for on bandy guard to call on his radio and the rest will follow. I know that protests can get nasty but the only reason I'm wasting my time writing this is because I know what I saw. It was a peaceful protest and the guards came down heavily. I can point out some guards in particular - the tanned guy on all the national papers without his badges was a particularly vicious f***er. At one point in dame lane his colleagues (ie other guards) had to yell at him to pull back because he was so out of line. You dance around the issue all you like but the guards showed their true colours in my book.
p.s. I'm not an anarchist, hippy or any other one of 'your' foes
I've never said that you or any hippy were my foe. I don't agree with your aims, but that doesn't mean that i want to bring harm to you or yours. Still, i re-iterate... that i still believe that the gardai must have been provoked in some way for these things to have happened.
look mr reader, you have been talking so much shit. yesterday was a disgrace. the pigs are supposed to be guardians of the peace. and grafitti, destroying one's own property (the car) , blocking traffic , etc are quite pale compared to beating another person repeatedly over the head with a stick, anyone who disagrees holds commerce and power over the imortance of the individual, but dont feel victimised by this accusation, you are in the majority.
reader should read more and talk less shit
i have been reading this crap, and you still haven't proven to me that you were in no wrong. You have said that the gardai were in the wrong, time and time again. But yet i have seen no reason for this. You've admitted that the march did things, that are frankly against the law.
and when the gardai tried to prevent these people from breaking more laws did the march as a whole prevent them?
If you were not looking for trouble you should have gone home, the minute that the gardai got more re-inforcements. When you saw the flare being thrown into the car, you should have realised that what you were participating in was wrong.
If you wishg to continue with the innocence line, and tell me that the gardai were totally in the wrong, prove it to me. You were there. Weren't you? How did the riot spark? Did the gardai look at one another, smile sadistically and decide to destroy you, or was there another reason?
I've read other people, say that the guardai, and the state feared you. Well, frankly i think thats rubbish. Fine if there was 5000 of ye then yes, but there was only abt 400 of you. So what happened that sparked off this incident??
If you had bothered to look, there were many people going around picking up any refuse. None throwing it on the ground.
With all his criticisms of those who took part..........just wondering if he has a job cos he spent a hell of a lot of time replying to those disgusted with his useless comments....YEAH i DIDN'T THINK SO.
Just like to say one thing, what went on yesterday was not a protest it was a party.
Hopefully you're winding us all up, it seems like you have far too much time on your hands. Why do you care so much?
We do not have to prove to you that we did no wrong. Hitting people, hospitalising them, beating them with batons is WRONG especially when you are quite obviously twice their height, supposed to be a gardian of the peace and wielding a weapon.
What could anyone really do that warrented the beatings that were recieved yesterday?
Blocking a street?
The taxi drivers did it
The Truck drivers did it
Have you ever seen a protest that did not block the street? we have a right to protest! It was more like a party though, (at first) but that's beside the point.
We should not have had to 'go home' if we were 'not looking for trouble' as you say. We were doing nothing that would hurt anyone. You say you dont believe in what Reclaim the Streets is, but do you even know?
What we were doing was getting our opinions on car culture heard in the only way people really cant be heard in this wonderful 'democracy'
The gardai were indeed 'smiling sadistically' as you put it. Why did they take off their numbers if they believed that what they were doing was right and justifiable?
The riot sparked because our way was blocked and we sat down. Is sitting down on the street an offence that deserves a severe beating? Delaying a bus for 10 minutes?
Have you seen the video? Even if you weren't there how can you think the reaction was right? You're sick!