Squatters face up to riot police after the illegal eviction

Report and statement from members of Bristol Defendant Solidarity, ABC and Afed.

After losing to a possession order in court from the Bank of Scotland, squatters held another party at Clifton Wood House that ended with 11 arrests. At about 6am, police gained entry to the £3 million mansion under the Criminal Justice Act due to noise complaints, where they were met by a crowd of 35 angry ravers. The party goers then successfully resisted attempts to shut down the party by charging the cops to remove them from the building. Police responded by calling backup involving 50 officers, who closed off Clifton Wood Road, and proceeded to illegally evict the squatters from their home and seize sound equipment.

This led to a series of arrests from public order to assault-pc as individuals attempted to resist the police-led eviction. A video shows someone bleeding from the nose during arrest and being threatened with a taser, followed by another person being dragged off in a neck lock by an officer defending himself armed with CS spray. Currently five people ranging from 17-19 years old have now been charged; two with assault-pc (one who also has resisting arrest) and another two with section 5 offenses. The full report and statement continues here.

Meet 1pm on Saturday 14th April @ Metropolis Stokes Croft to defend our squats!

Related articles: March to defend our squats! Solidarity with those facing eviction & charges | Arrests At Protest Against Remote Killing Machines | Solidarity Report - Trinity Rd/Southmead | 6 arrests at Drone Conference | Down the Drones Conference | Bristol Responds to Anti-Squatting Bill | Anti Militarist Billboard Goes Up In St Werburghs

Links: Bristol Defendant Solidarity | Bristol Anarchist Black Cross | Bristol Anarchist Federation | Bristol Squattastic

Last weekend saw a whole host of ridiculous police repression at the Animal Rights Action Weekend.

On Saturday morning there was a demonstration at Bristol Airport against Air France KLM, who are one of the few airlines still prepared to ship animals into this country for experimentation. The demonstration consisted of several people with fake blood on being transported by some pretend KLM staff. After a member of the public supposedly got a small amount of fake blood on their sleeve and lost their temper, the police saw an opportunity to make some ridiculous arrests over claimed criminal damage offences, eventually arresting 6 people. One of the arrests was for assault a PC after the arresting officer threw the arrestee to the floor and punched the floor next to them, injuring their own hand and blaming the arrestee!

The arrestees were all held for as close to 24 hours as they could possibly get away with (the last one being released at roughly 23 hours and 40 minutes) and held a whole host of ridiculous operations whilst they were inside. They first visited the venue of the Bristol Hunt Saboteurs benefit gig which had been organised in line with the action weekend, in an attempt to intimidate the venue saying it had been mention in the midst of some trouble earlier that day and so they were going to have a presence there that night.

Bristol Indymedia presents Erasing David, a documentary about surveillance, privacy and the database state. Described by the Observer as ‘chillingly admonitory‘, the film questions the well-repeated myth ‘if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear’. Exposing the UK as one of the top three surveillance states in the world, after Russia and China, Erasing David investigates just how traceable we are.

David Bond, a UK citizen, decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by hiring private security guards to track him for thirty days as he attempts to disappear, a decision that changes his life forever.  Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is followed across the database state on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy and the loss of it. Featuring music by Michael Nyman.

At the Cube cinema, Dove St, Bristol. BS2 8JD, on the 3rd October 2011 at 8pm and entry is £3/£4 but nobody refused for lack of funds.