Police close Fitwatch
JMS
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-website-closed
Well that's a bugger.
What a waste of time and money - and indeed it has given the site much
publicity which they would not otherwise have had.
I wonder how many readers of the newspapers had ever heard of it
before today.
Well done plod - shot yourself in the foot here.
Whether you agree with their current action or not - they certainly
have done some useful work in showing police overstepping the mark in
the past
Perhaps that's why plod were keen to close it down.
I bet Google for Fitwatch hits will go sky high.
I wonder if there is just a very, very slim possibility of the website
obtaining a different host?
Nah ..... couldn't happen - that'll be the end of Fitwatch!!
JMS
wrote:
>
>http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-website-closed
>
>
>Well that's a bugger.
Here is the actual piece which provoked the police action. Let's hope
people don't read it anywhere else.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The remarkable and brilliant student action at Millbank has produced
some predictable frothing at the mouth from the establishment and
right wing press. Cameron has called for the �full weight of the law�
to fall on those who had caused tens of thousands of pounds of damage
to the expensive decor at Tory party HQ. Responsibility is being
placed on �a violent faction�, after the march was �infiltrated� by
anarchists.
There are an encouraging number of intiatives to show solidarity with
the arrested students � something that is vital if they are to avoid
the sort of punitive �deterrent� sentences handed out to the Gaza
demonstrators. A legal support group has been established and the
National Campaign against Cuts and Fees has started a support
campaign. Goldsmiths lecturers union has publicly commended the
students for a �magnificent demonstration� .
This is all much needed, as the establishment is clearly on the march
with this one. The Torygraph has published an irresponsible and
frenzied �shop-a-student� piece and the Met are clearly under pressure
to produce �results� after what they have admitted was a policing
�embarrassment�.
51 people have been arrested so far, and the police have claimed they
took the details of a further 250 people in the kettle using powers
under the Police Reform Act. There may be more arrests to come.
Students who are worried should consider taking the following actions:
If you have been arrested, or had your details taken � contact the
legal support campaign. As a group you can support each other, and
mount a coherent campaign.
If you fear you may be arrested as a result of identification by CCTV,
FIT or press photography;
DONT panic. Press photos are not necessarily conclusive evidence, and
just because the police have a photo of you doesn�t mean they know who
you are.
DONT hand yourself in. The police often use the psychological pressure
of knowing they have your picture to persuade you to �come forward�.
Unless you have a very pressing reason to do otherwise, let them come
and find you, if they know who you are.
DO get rid of your clothes. There is no chance of suggesting the bloke
in the video is not you if the clothes he is wearing have been found
in your wardrobe. Get rid of ALL clothes you were wearing at the demo,
including YOUR SHOES, your bag, and any distinctive jewellery you were
wearing at the time. Yes, this is difficult, especially if it is your
only warm coat or decent pair of boots. But it will be harder still if
finding these clothes in your flat gets you convicted of violent
disorder.
DONT assume that because you can identify yourself in a video, a judge
will be able to as well. �That isn�t me� has got many a person off
before now.
DO keep away from other demos for a while. The police will be on the
look-out at other demos, especially student ones, for people they have
put on their �wanted� list. Keep a low profile.
DO think about changing your appearance. Perhaps now is a good time
for a make-over. Get a haircut and colour, grow a beard, wear glasses.
It isn�t a guarantee, but may help throw them off the scent.
DO keep your house clean. Get rid of spray cans, demo related stuff,
and dodgy texts / photos on your phone. Don�t make life easy for them
by having drugs, weapons or anything illegal in the house.
DO get the name and number of a good lawyer you can call if things go
badly. The support group has the names of recommended lawyers on their
site. Take a bit of time to read up on your rights in custody,
especially the benefits of not commenting in interview.
DO be careful who you speak about this to. Admit your involvement in
criminal damage / disorder ONLY to people you really trust.
DO try and control the nerves and panic. Waiting for a knock on the
door is stressful in the extreme, but you need to find a way to get on
with business as normal. Otherwise you�ll be serving the sentence
before you are even arrested.
This post is also available on google at:
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:qv4goBQOpDYJ:www.fitwatch.org.uk/+fitwatch&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk&client=firefox-a
Partac
"JMS" <jmsmi...@live.co.uk > wrote in message
news:atr4e6hs2cabrlcb2...@4ax.com...
>
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-website-closed
>
>
> Well that's a bugger.>
> What a waste of time and money - and indeed it has given the site much
> publicity which they would not otherwise have had.>
> I wonder how many readers of the newspapers had ever heard of it
> before today.>
> Well done plod - shot yourself in the foot here.
>
> Whether you agree with their current action or not - they certainly
> have done some useful work in showing police overstepping the mark in
> the past
Whilst I hadn't heard of this site before, and probably wouldn't have given
it much credence if I had, I find the fact that the police wanted to shut
down a site critical of them very sinister indeed, and would certainly make
me more likely to look at the site if it finds another host.
Just what the police need to hide would be interesting - in the same way I
found the police covering up their numbers recently "interesting".
Colonel Colt
news:8kfbut...@mid.individual.net...
>
> Whilst I hadn't heard of this site before, and probably wouldn't have
> given it much credence if I had, I find the fact that the police wanted to
> shut down a site critical of them very sinister indeed, and would
> certainly make me more likely to look at the site if it finds another
> host.
>
projectsheffield.wordpress.com
norfolknonaligned.wordpress.com
truth-reason-liberty.blogspot.com
cambridgeanarchists.wordpress.com
edinburghanarchists.noflag.org.uk
Jethro
is this the Streisland effect http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streisand_effect
? If only people had known about it in advance - it might have stopped
the police looking clueless.
Steve Walker
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-website-closed
>
>
> Well that's a bugger.
>
> What a waste of time and money - and indeed it has given the site
> much publicity which they would not otherwise have had.
>
> I wonder how many readers of the newspapers had ever heard of it
> before today.
>
> Well done plod - shot yourself in the foot here.
>
> Whether you agree with their current action or not - they certainly
> have done some useful work in showing police overstepping the mark
> in the past
Yes, the offending material will be mirrored to 100 sites before the
weekend.
I think that FITwatch are courageous and principled, slightly daft at times
but admirable nonetheless.
Steve Walker
> Whilst I hadn't heard of this site before, and probably wouldn't
> have given it much credence if I had, I find the fact that the
> police wanted to shut down a site critical of them very sinister
> indeed, and would certainly make me more likely to look at the site
> if it finds another host.
> Just what the police need to hide would be interesting - in the
> same way I found the police covering up their numbers recently
> "interesting".
That's actually a core part of FITwatch's activity. There's a shady police
outfit called Forward Itelligence Team, who turn up at demos and go round
filming protesters. They often don't / won't identify themselves or explain
their behaviour, so it has a menacing Stasi effect.
FITwatch is a bunch of hippy ne'erdowells and anarchists who decided one day
that they would return the favour by following FIT and filming them.
You'll be astonished to hear that the Police don't like that, even though
it's entirely lawful, and have targeted them ever since.
They're well regarded in progressive/libertarian politics, and they'll have
no trouble finding support for an offshore host.
Doug
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-websi...
>
> Well that's a bugger.
>
> What a waste of time and money - and indeed it has given the site much
> publicity which they would not otherwise have had.
>
> I wonder how many readers of the newspapers had ever heard of it
> before today.
>
> Well done plod - shot yourself in the foot here.
>
> Whether you agree with their current action or not - they certainly
> have done some useful work in showing police overstepping the mark in
> the past
>
> Perhaps that's why plod were keen to close it down.
>
> I bet Google for Fitwatch hits will go sky high.
>
> I wonder if there is just a very, very slim possibility of the website
> obtaining a different host?
>
> Nah ..... couldn't happen - that'll be the end of Fitwatch!!
>
confiscated the drives it is on. Pity the British Library didn't
archive it, as it has some other activists sites.
-- .
UK Radical Campaigns.
http://www.zing.icom43.net
One man's democracy is another man's Police State,
where rights are replaced by concessions.
Doug
> "JMS" <jmsmith2...@live.co.uk > wrote in message
>
> news:atr4e6hs2cabrlcb2...@4ax.com...
>
>
>
> >http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/16/student-anti-police-websi...
>
> > Well that's a bugger.>
> > What a waste of time and money - and indeed it has given the site much
> > publicity which they would not otherwise have had.>
> > I wonder how many readers of the newspapers had ever heard of it
> > before today.>
> > Well done plod - shot yourself in the foot here.
>
> > Whether you agree with their current action or not - they certainly
> > have done some useful work in showing police overstepping the mark in
> > the past
>
> Whilst I hadn't heard of this site before, and probably wouldn't have given
> it much credence if I had, I find the fact that the police wanted to shut
> down a site critical of them very sinister indeed, and would certainly make
> me more likely to look at the site if it finds another host.
>
> Just what the police need to hide would be interesting - in the same way I
> found the police covering up their numbers recently "interesting".
>
'Watching them watching you'.
FIT (Police Forward Intelligence Team) have been in the habit of
photographing and videoing people, including me, attending public
demonstrations for years. As a reaction to this Fitwatchers both tried
to prevent this by holding up screens in front of police cameras, for
which they were sometimes arrested, and by photographing and learning
the names of the FIT cops, those details were then placed on the
website, which must be embarrassing for the cops to say the very
least.