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Wedding 'Die-In' Protest at London Afghanistan War Base, Wed 27 May

Peter Marshall | 27.05.2009 20:41 | Anti-militarism | Terror War | Oxford | World

Wedding Party peace protest at UK Military HQ in Northwood on Wednesday 27 May 2009 against killing of civilians in Afghanistan, on second anniversary of US attack on wedding party, killing 47.
Pictures Copyright (C) Peter Marshall, 2009. All rights reserved.

A bride at Northwood station
A bride at Northwood station

John McDonnell speaks at Northwood
John McDonnell speaks at Northwood

The march starts
The march starts

The die-in begins
The die-in begins

Maya adds some blood
Maya adds some blood

A 'dead' bride
A 'dead' bride

Police warn Milan Rai
Police warn Milan Rai

Carrying a protester away
Carrying a protester away


Two years ago today, on May 27, 2007, US forces in Afghanistan bombed a wedding party at Haji Nabu, killing 47 civilians; just one of many wedding parties massacred by NATO or US forces. Thousands of Afghan civilians have been killed by US/NATO forces in the war, and earlier this month, on May 4, around 120 civilians, mainly women and children were killed in an attack in Farah province.

To mark these killings and call for an end to the killing in Afghanistan, protesters from Voices in the Wilderness UK, Justice Not Vengeance and London and Oxford Catholic Workers organised a 'die-in', an act of non-violent civil disobedience close to the main gate of 'HMS Warrior', the land-based military base in Northwood in London from which Britain's forces in Afghanistan are commanded.

It was a cold, wet morning when around 30 demonstrators, dressed for a wedding and including two brides and grooms, met at Northwood station for a march to the base. There were considerably more police than demonstrators, and after some negotiation the police agreed that the march would be allowed to proceed to a wide verge close to the main gate of the base.

On the way there were further discussions about the exact route, but after threatening to block the road with a 'die-in' the march was allowed to reach the road opposite the grass verge on which the police had wanted them to protest, and their path to the main gate, a short distance further on was blocked by a line of police.

The march organisers had previously decided they would stage the 'die-in' at the point they were stopped by the police from going further, and around half the demonstrators lay down on the road. Fortunately the organisers had come with a supply of black bin bags to put on the wet surface, but it was still cold and uncomfortable, and the rain, although light, was steady.

The rest of the protesters began a reading of the names of civilians killed in Afghanistan from the side of the road. Among those taking part in the protest were Maya Evans and Milan Rai who were arrested in 2005 for reading out the names of Iraqis and British soldiers killed in the Iraq War, opposite the Cenotaph in Whitehall. Rai became the first person to be convicted under SOCPA for organising an unauthorised demonstration in the vicinity of Parliament. Also present was Hillingdon MP John McDonnell

The Hertfordshire police had previously given a warning under Section 14 of the Public Order Act. They gave a further warning once people had 'died' on the roadway, but stood watching. After around 15 minutes, a second officer gave a warning that unless people cleared the road they would be moved, and said that they had 5 minutes to decide. Twenty minutes later a final warning was issued, and then groups of police moved to each protester on the road in turn. Each was told they were committing an offence and that unless they moved they would be carried to the side of the road, and that if they attempted to move back on to the road they would be arrested.

Several demonstrators got up and walked to the side, but most waited for the police to move them, which appeared to be done firmly but with minimum force. At one point the officer in charge directed his men to deal with one man before the other remaining protesters because he was obviously shivering and suffering from the cold. And as a photographer the Hertfordshire police made a pleasant change from the Met. For once I was only told to get out of the way when I was really in the way. There were some FIT officers from the Met present - let's hope they take some intelligence back to their force about how to police protest.

I saw one man who came back on the roadway being arrested and led away, but I was told that there were several other arrests; I think all of people who had defied the police injunction not to move back onto the road.

The organisers had intended that the 'die-in' should last an hour; it began at 12.22 and the removal by police started at 12.58 and was complete by 13.08, just three-quarters of an hour after the start. A few minutes later the police agreed to let the protesters march back down the road to the station.

More pictures on My London Diary shortly:
 http://mylondondiary.co.uk/2009/05/may.htm

Peter Marshall
- e-mail: petermarshall@cix.co.uk
- Homepage: http://mylondondiary.co.uk

Comments

Hide the following 5 comments

Six people arrested and charged

27.05.2009 23:30

...for breaches of condition of Section 14 order (under Public Order Act 1986), by (allegedly) going back into the road after removal by police officers. Those arrested and charged were: Milan Rai and Maya Evans of Justice Not Vengeance / Peace News, Angie Zelter, the founder of Trident Ploughshares, Gabriel Carlyle of Voices in the Wilderness UK / Peace News, and two members of the London Catholic Worker Christian anarchist community. All prisoners were released from Rickmansworth police station by 5.45pm on Wednesday (after about 4 1/2 hours in custody, in total). All were bailed to appear before Hemel Hempstead Magistrates at the end of June. No further bail conditions were imposed. About a dozen fellow attendees of the procession and die-in protested and "sang" outside the police station in solidarity, displaying peace flags and receiving many toots from passing motorists. It is thought that the loud, out-of-tune singing (or caterwauling) helped expedite the release of the prisoners (a tactic to be recommended).




dv
mail e-mail: vd2012-imc [at] yahoo.co.uk


unbelievable

28.05.2009 01:43

You must have "known" they were going to get arrested!!

"well, we were lying in the middle of a road causing a big holdup and you never guess what they moved us. So we did it again, and they arrested us!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh, can you believe it?"

You can "act" flabogasted all you want - but to be honest its a bit insulting to my intelligence if you expect me to believe it. At the end of the day, even a small child knows you will be arrested if you keep lying in the middle of a road. If you don't know this, you really do need supervision in the big wide world.

Ultimately, i actually think you WANTED the police to be there and you WANTED to be arrested so that you would have some good pictures and it would put the icing on the cake of the story. Blatant spin doctoring



max


believable

28.05.2009 08:51

did anyone say they were "flabogasted" (sic) sam?

at the end of your strange post, (have you never come across non-violent civil disobedience before?), you began to work it out.

"Ultimately, i actually think you WANTED the police to be there and you WANTED to be arrested"

doh, genius!

read up a bit on civil protest tactics and the many past successes. there have been successful changes in the law or in the application of the law that have resulted from challenging either charges in court or police actions on the street.

it's part of the fluid history of freedom v repression, which shows that unless people keep challenging the authorities, we all might as well just sit at our computers making ill-judged and snide comments and let the orwellian state become a present reality.

thanks for your input though.

min


The purpose and the policing

29.05.2009 16:34

Thanks Peter for posting and for your pictures.

Max, I can only explain what the purpose of the action was from the point of view of the organising committee.

Our stated aim was to walk from Northwood tube station to the main gate of the UK/NATO base at Northwood, which is involved in commanding military operations in Afghanistan, and to hold a 'die-in' at the main gate. The demonstration was meant to be respectful to those people who've died of UK/US/NATO airstrikes in Afghanistan, and it was very sombre and dignified in mood.

Our minimum time for the die-in was one hour, at which time we were going to ask everyone involved in the die-in if they wanted to continue, and if so for how long. The police took action after 35-40 minutes.

The point of the action was precisely to offer nonviolent civil disobedience in the face of a brutal war, it was to offer some disruption to business as usual while Britain continues to participate in the destruction of wedding parties, the mass killing of civilians, in Afghanistan.

However, if the police had held off for another 20 minutes, I'm pretty confident that those lying in the road would have decided we'd achieved our goals and we would have closed down the event. It was cold and wet and people were lying on the road.

If the police hadn't been there, we would have been very happy to have marched up to the front gates and blockaded that part of the base - without any arrests.

On a separate point, I'd like to note that we contacted the police weeks before the event to notify them of our plans. We made clear to them that we were intending to move as a group along the road route of our choice (not through backstreets) and that wherever we were halted we would carry out the die-in there - the point nearest to the base.

That clearly-transmitted message (via a police liaison person) was the reason why they relented and allowed us to march along the main roads; and why they relented and allowed us to march in the road rather than on the pavement (at one point we started the die-in and then they changed their minds). By sticking to our plan, we moved as a single group, on the road, to a point within sight of the main gate, before starting the die-in.

The final stage of the protest, from the police point of view, was for us to move onto the verge, and for us to move in small, accompanied, groups, to the main gate, where we could hold the die-in. Personally, I think they would have gone through with that deal, though I don't know how many people they would have escorted through before saying it was 'enough' to 'make our point'.

At that point, while we were in the road (top of Watford Road), we said: we've got as close to the base main gate as we can get as a group, so we're starting the die-in.

With just 42 people, we managed to stick to our own plan and have what I think was quite an empowering experience.

Milan Rai
mail e-mail: milanrai@btinternet.com
- Homepage: http://www.stopbombingafghanistan.org


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