Star date: 22nd March 2014

GMP USING `VIOLENCE, BRUTALITY AND INTIMIDATION' AGAINST DEMOCRATIC PROTEST AT BARTON MOSS

Well over one hundred people laid siege to Swinton Police Station in Salford this afternoon in a noisy, musical and good humoured protest against Greater Manchester Police treatment of peaceful protectors at the Barton Moss anti-fracking demonstrations.

Tim, from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp, accused the GMP of "violence, brutality, bullying and general intimidation" that "create a climate of fear such that the British people feel unsafe to come forth and air their views".

Full details here…

"In order to facilitate a march it has to be such that old people, infirm people, children, everybody feels safe to come and stand and use this great British right of protest. Anything less than that is not acceptable" Tim, Barton Moss Camp

Well over one hundred people gathered outside a locked Swinton Police Station this afternoon to draw attention to the way that Greater Manchester Police has handled anti-fracking protests at Barton Moss over the last four months.

"It's clear that the Greater Manchester Police do not have any training whatsoever in dealing with legal, lawful protest" said Tim from the Barton Moss Community Protection Camp "They have been treating us as if we are Friday night drunken revellers or football hooligans…and I'm personally here today to say `I've had enough of that, it doesn't work'

"This is not the way that democratic protest is facilitated" he explained "In order to facilitate a march, it has to be such that old people, infirm people, children, everybody feels safe to come and stand and use this great British right of protest. Anything less than that is not acceptable.

"I am calling on the GMP to revise and review how they deal with protest because this is not working" he added "Violence, brutality, bullying and general intimidation create a climate of fear, such that the British people feel unsafe to come forth and air their views. This is not working. The GMP is not working. But whatever their tactics towards us, clearly we will stay and we will continue to protest anywhere in this land where fracking takes place."

Tim drew comparisons to new anti-fracking demonstrations in Farndon, Cheshire, where the chief of police had a completely different attitude towards protectors and acknowledged their peaceful protests.

"We are not here to fight the police and we don't want to get distracted into fighting the police" he explained "The normal British person watching the tv is not aware of the intimidation and oppression that we have to go through just to make our point; that we are trying to warn people what we are entering into – this mad dash for gas, this mad drilling into the ground leaving chemicals, releasing normally occurring radioactive material. We're trying to simply make people aware that this is madness and it must be stopped."

At least fifty per cent of people at today's Swinton Police Station protest were from Salford, and included Saffron, the 15 year old schoolgirl arrested for `walking slowly' during a school holiday visit to Barton Moss (see previous Salford Star article for full details – click here).

"There's been a lot of support locally, we've had hot drinks and food brought to us by local residents who are supporting us today" said Lindsay, from the Justice4BartonMoss campaign which organised the event.

"We're here to hold a vigil against the incarceration of protectors and the human right to protest being taken away by GMP" she explained "This is our complaint to them. We're not going to put up with it any more and we are going to put up a peaceful resistance to it."

During the stormy afternoon of rain and hail, music was played from specially set up speakers outside the police station, there were songs, speeches and chants of `GMP, GMP…IGas private army', while children rang bells and grandmas carried placards demanding `No more violence from GMP!'.

Many of the banners decorating the railings of the police station referred to the treatment of Vanda Gillett, the mother violently arrested by the GMP's Tactical Aid Unit (TAU) last Monday (see previous Salford Star article for full details – click here)…

"That pushed my anger far further than I ever thought it could be pushed" Wayne, himself arrested during yesterday's lock-on, told the crowd.

"I overheard a police officer call one of the legal observers an `arse'" he added "And this is simply because our legal observers are keeping an eye on what the police are doing, reporting what they are doing…They're putting it on Bambuser, Facebook, YouTube…all the information and videos are there for anyone to watch…It is massively important that everyone becomes aware of what is happening…"

Main photo by Steven Speed

See also previous Salford Star article: GMP on best behaviour for Independent Protest Panel (and follow links at the end of the story) - click here