Police repression of anti-cuts groups in Swindon & Taunton

south west | policing | feature Tuesday February 08, 2011 09:34 by An Anarchist against The Cuts

Meeting goes ahead despite intimidation

Police are using threats and intimidation in an attempt to repress anti-cuts groups forming in towns across the region.

Yeah yeah, not exactly an exclusive we know. But we aren’t talking about the cops coming down hard on organised groups of international anarchists having secret meetings with their leader Chris Knight. In Swindon, Wiltshire police have been harassing members of their local anti-cuts group who have been organising stalls and giving out flyers about the cuts in the town centre.

The cops, one, due to a spelling mistake on his ID card now known as Inspector Anger (can you be arrested by a cop with incorrect ID?) have been demanding the personal details of these shady leaflet distributers and making up laws to get them.

They have also received threatening e-mails and phone calls about the risks of non-compliance with the Police and some members have been visited in their homes by police searching for information. One sergeant threatened to ban all future actions by the group under section 14 of the public order act.

It seems however that nothing overtly political has happened in Taunton for a very long time and as a result the Police panicked. The organisers were forced to have a Police liason and received regular calls from the local plod. Even the venue was visited and the land lady warned off allowing the gig to happen, being told it was a protest rather than a concert and another cop referring to it as a “mini Glastonbury”!