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Belfast City Hall protest. national |
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news report
 Wednesday April 09, 2003 02:59 by protestor - the globally disgusted
 ictu representatives describe peaceful protestors as ' not ours' As a few hundred people gathered to take part in a peaceful protest - the police where gathering to instigate a riot. As someone who was present at the City Hall protest earlier today - I am disappointed by a few things that occurred, overall in conclusion it was a sucessful protest. Firstly - the entire population of Belfast need to be on our streets to protest this horrific turn of global events - understanding that will never happen i hope for more numbers joining to maximise the anti war movement. Secondly - I read and listened with disgust as Alicia Keanes of ICTU stated that those that took part in the sit down protest where totally separate from the protest they organised - this is of course something we are used to, as it was those same people who placed a barrier on the road on our way to Hillsborough. All who where on the road for a sit down protest this afternoon in Belfast had also been there from 1pm as was called for. It was all the same protest it did not end because some people took the megaphones home and didn't want to 'play any more' If the idea of these bureaucrats is to come out of their offices for a few hours and think they can own or disown any protest need to reexamine their aims. Any movement has to be broadly based I accept that much reiterated point which means incorporating EVERYONE including all styles and choice of actions not just those selectively choosen as accepted by those who seem to think they have the power (i personally think it's delusions of grandeur) - such as having the right to be laying down on the footpath or road whichever the individual choses. Thirdly - The behaviour of the RUC was typical, brutal , heavy handed , indiscriminate, unreasonable and unnecessary. Why do peaceful protestors need to be met by baton wielding happy riot police? Why do peaceful protestors need to be violently attacked by police during and after forcible removable from their sitting position on road? Why did 14 peaceful protestors need to be selectively arrested (not all removed from crowd where arrested - just a selected few)? Ironic though that it is - why did the police need to be there at all in the choosen presence when they decided after they had their daily fix of beating up the innocent they decided to return to the station for tea and donuts? Or was it as I observed the RUC realising what a silly wee mistake they had made allowing its newly named hired mercenaries to beat up young people in front of a mix of national and international media - as well as the growing crowd of shoppers and passers by that watched as they beat and moved in on a crowd of people protesting the fact that there is an unjust war in progress and those that constructed this war just happened to be in our country discussing peace - the RUC should have been at Hillsborough Castle arresting George Bush and Tony Blair - on the basis of committing war crimes illegally in another sovereign nation. Finally - SATURDAY APRIL 12TH - ARTS COLLEGE BELFAST 2PM - RALLY POINT - CITY HALL. LETS SHOW THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE STREETS - WE DID IT TODAY LETS DO IT ON SATURDAY AND SHOW NOT ONLY THE RUC BUT THE REST OF THE WORLD AS THEY MARCH ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION.
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Comments (9 of 9)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9You say...
"LETS SHOW THE PEOPLE WHO OWN THE STREETS - WE DID IT TODAY LETS DO IT ON SATURDAY AND SHOW NOT ONLY THE RUC BUT THE REST OF THE WORLD AS THEY MARCH ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ACTION.
BRING YOUR FRIENDS, FAMILY, COLLEGUES,( EVEN PEOPLE YOU MAY NOT LIKE) CATS, DOGS, DRUMS, WHISTLES, POTS, PANS, LETS MAKE SOME NOISE !!!"
Even people I may not like?
Has it really reached that stage? :-p
collegues - even people you do not like -
statement directed at the word collegues - are we meant to like all who we work with - i most certainly dont .
The three points you have made are absolutely correct, in particular I would like to focus on points 2 and 3.
Point 2: I completely agree and am also totally fed up with the fact that ICTU representatives continually try to order people around at rallies. All these people exist for is inflate their own egos as the self styled voices of the people, when in fact the only people who select them to speak are themselves. There is no general consensus to their attempted monopolising of these protests, in fact there is wide opposition to it, and their attempt to distance themselves from todays rally was a disgrace. Rather than show any kind of solidarity with the peaceful protesters that sat in the road, these leeches tried to distance themselves from the rally in an attempt save their own hides from mainstream media scrutiny. These are people who are too scared to get involved and try to acheive something, people who will one minute claim that they have organised an entire rally and the next minute disown peaceful protesters that sit down in the middle of a road. In other words, two faced scum.
As to point three, I don't think I need to say much on this, as we have pictures to prove it.
The police were completely over the top and heavy handed at the protest, they gave no real warning and then charged a peaceful protest in riot gear, using batons and shields to beat people down. They did not discriminate between men, women, or schoolkids, and in fact their behaviour can be described as nothing short of police brutality. It just goes to show, you can change a name, but you can't change a police force.
I want to add another point, the treatment of this protest by mainstream media (and here I refer to the BBC and UTV) was utterly ludicrous. The suggestion that a hardline element hijacked the protest was ridiculous, as was the suggestion that 5 police officers were injured. Maybe they broke their fists punching people in the face.
In my view, BBC and UTV were attempting to discredit the protesters in any way possible, and therefore resorted to misrepresentation when they could find nothing real to grab on to. Its times like this that Indymedia shows what it is here for.
My conclusion: Shame on mainstream media, shame on RUC/PSNI, shame on ICTU.
Yep,pretty much agree with your analysis.
When those in the movement move from protest to nonviolent resistance they will be abandoned & marginalised by bureaucrats who see the war as merely another marketting exercise for their profiles, power base, recruitment etc.
Resisters move beyond the gentlemans agreement/ co-dependent dance of you can have your protest as long as we can have our war and business-as-usual is not disrupted.
People will choose their time and place to move from protest to resistance....our time and place was Shannon Airport on Feb. 3rd. The 4 of us are out on bail and attempting to support other n.v. resistance to this massacre. Karen Fallon chooses the nonco-operation of not accepting bail conditions - she remains in Limerick Prison.
The young folks chose the road outside the Belfast City Hall to say business as usual cannot continue in the imperial centres when napalm and cluster bombs are being dropped on kids in the colonies.
When brothers and sisters choose their time and place the choice is to join them on the road or support their decision. Folks who acted yesterday in Belfast displayed a nonviolent discipline and courage way beyond their years. It was their time and place. Our role should not be to undermine them but to be in proactive solidarity with them. Their in jail/front of the courts/in casualty for us, we should be onthe loose for them.
The bureaucrats are the first line of policing to make sure the movement doesn't move into resistance....that was self evident in Belfast yesterday. At present the movement in Ireland is largely contained by these forces that will run the phenomenon into the ground, recruit a few of the leftovers and feel it's been a profitable campaign. (These folks fear other initiatives/alternative leadership in the movement they can't control or contain.)
The scenes as the movement swept past the official platform on Monday and headed as close as it could get to Blair and Bush was interesting. The "leadership" had to run to catch up and contain with mass chanting and the usual choreography before telling people "go home we have made our point".
The task now is to accompany resisters - both military and civilian through the courts and court martials, prison, brigs and punishment.
Nonviolent resistance - like Belfast yesterday- can be the most empowering experience of these folks lives or the most disempowering...it all depends on the solidarity we can muster for them.
I was at the protest, Alicia Keanes is not with the ICTU, she is with the STOP THE WAR COALITION. She does not represent the views of the whole of the ICTU.
Alicia Keane works for the ICTU. She, for some unknown reason, has jumped to the head of the anti war movement here. For herself I reckon. She was bored to death listening to speeches at Hillsborough the other night, and literally ate the balls of Peter Bunting on a few occasions in anger!! Telling him to "hurry up" and tell them to "wind it up". Very good Alicia...big pat on the back for you. Just a pity that you didnt realise that people went out of their way to be there!!!Ignorant wee so and so if you ask me!!!
Remember folks,
Alicia aint the anti-war movement!!!
Why did RBB think he had the right on Monday to prevent people from entering an open field, they didn't intend on doing anything but to spread out the RUC and so create a little sense of civil disobedience. But RBB and others feel they have the right to dictate where when and how people should act!
RBB this is a democratic society and even if you WERE an elected representative you do not have the right to tell people how to voice or act on their opposition to a state/s that is killing innocent children!
Do you believe RBB that you are gaining votes among the MASSES!!!!
The hypocrisy of politricks is sickening!
I don't expect any answers to the above questions.
RBB does not post on this lowly site, oh he reads it alright but he doesn't feel the need to justify himself here after all those reading and writing on this site would not be considered the MASSES!
Top o the mornin to ya Ritchie!
Its also Peter Hadden and the other trolls from the SP shouting out the orders. At a previous Protest, an ICTU speaker said that people could be against the War and also support the troops!
This resulted in a lot of booing. Hadden and his little helpers were running around the crowd like
leprechauns on speed instructing people to stop booing.
This combined with Haddens felon-setting of Davy Carlin has a lot of people pissed off. If the SP are not going to anything then the CWI should investigate these outrages.