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Policewatch Films

Saturday, 10 November 2007

Video of Fitwatch at Bash the Rich

Comment on this vid from the blog of 'Bash the Rich' Ian Bone...

"Buy this woman a fucking pint! Fitwatch is showing the way to resist cop bullying - well fucking done……..lets have some more of this next time with more fucking support."

Cheers for that, Ian. And all pints gratefully received.

Posted by at

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

How will the actions of this women and the FITWATCH team in general advance the cause of Social Justice in Europe. Antagonising the police achieves nothing, zero, fuck all. Except that next time during a demo they will be more inclined to be awkward.

The bash the rich demo was always a piece of crap and now to discover that a DVD of the day is for sale !!!

12 November 2007 at 08:24
bentham said...

As if the police have ever not been awkward.

Refusing to blindly obey authority is the root of any struggle for social justice, the primary purpose of the police is to preserve the social order, protecting the rich from the poor.

Fitwatch aims to prevent police repression by disrupting exploratory surveillance, which is intended to actively discourage participation in public protest.

What DVD are you talking about?

12 November 2007 at 09:05
Anonymous said...

Best not antagonise the police.

Much better to simply accept that when you go on a demonstration you are going to be photographed, videoed, searched, penned in, pushed around and arrested if you try to leave.

I'm sure that will advance the cause of social justice hugely.

13 November 2007 at 01:44
Anonymous said...

As much as I despise the FIT teams, I do think the first poster has a point. Rather than facing down the FIT teams, would it not be better to try and engage them about the ethics of what they are doing?

Sure, they're not going to actually talk to you to start with, but if you keep speaking to them throughout the demo, and then keep speaking to them at subsequent demos, it might get through to them that you're human beings, not animals. And, despite appearances to the contrary, the cops are human too!

Just to be clear, this is not meant as a total criticism of what you do, just an attempt to start a debate on how it might be improved.

14 November 2007 at 16:25
Anonymous said...

"Rather than facing down the FIT teams, would it not be better to try and engage them about the ethics of what they are doing?"

No, it wouldn't. I've heard people advocate this for any and every tactic the cops use and I've not encountered a single case of it working.

(what would "working" entail anyway? that individual FIT officer quitting and being replaced by another? huzzah!)

"And, despite appearances to the contrary, the cops are human too!"

Yes, they are human. they are human beings who willingly harass, intimidate and follow people, and if ordered to will cave your skull in with a truncheon.

I don't see what acknowledging our shared species has to do with anything.

- r

15 November 2007 at 05:05
Anonymous said...

Sadly, engaging with FIT and showing them the error of their ways will not work. Firstly, they understand the nature of their work very well when they take the job on in the first place. And secondly, they are only acting on the orders of someone very much more senior who you will never get a chance to talk to.

Besides which, it's all a great success story. The FIT works very well at limiting mobilisations and preserving public order. Job done.

Liberal responses to the excesses of the FIT (civil actions, letters to MPs, privacy campaigns) that have been going on for years have been unsuccessful.

A more radical approach is less comfortable, but undoubtedly more effective. The twin approach of DOCUMENTING what they do (taking pictures, making notes...) and RESISTING what they do (obstructing, non-compliance...) appears to be the approach that will work the best.

15 November 2007 at 05:41
Anonymous said...

People are welcome to resist and oppose the FIT teams in any way they think will be the most effective. FIT Watch doesn't have to be confrontational, but it is a personal choice.

However the sentence "what you do" is very telling. My question is what do you do? Rather than criticising the tactics that people are putting themselves on the line for, how about getting out on the streets and implementing the tactics you believe in.

I believe in directly confronting the FIT teams. I think this is the only way we are ever going to tackle them.

Talking to them is pointless. What are you really going to achieve? I have no respect for cops, and even less respect for the FIT. This is born out of bitter experience - years of harassment, wrongful arrests and assaults.

After years of repression, harassment and intimidation we need to fight back by all and every means available to us.

15 November 2007 at 06:12
Anonymous said...

all this toss about 'engaging' with the filth rather misses the bloody point. the reason the fit team are there is, as anyone who looks into it will find, to build up a rapport with demonstrators. it seems that they're knocking at an open door with some people. they've also a deterrent effect, both deterring people they've got pictures of doing anything, and deterring people from turning up in the first place. if the filth could be reasoned with, then they wouldn't have such an effect on people! if the filth could be reasoned with, then police brutality wouldn't occur! dealing with the fit has to be done on a 'by any means necessary' basis, not by blindly doing just what they want you to do.

TEL

15 November 2007 at 07:46
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24 November 2007 at 19:06
Anonymous said...

Engaging with pigs doesnt work,
went down that road in the 80s,they dont want to listen.Try flying out of the country once they have got you on film and documented as a demonstrator,these pig voyuers are part of a much bigger thing.Big up to the banner wavers,big balls!!!no doubt....

30 November 2007 at 18:33
Anonymous said...

I often wonder if any of the MET actually watch themselves in any of the footage we have documented and see what goons, buffoons, babboons and thugs they are acting like...

I look at the MET in this video and if you close your eyes and replace the yellow jackets with the colours of a Los Angeles gang... I am able to differentiate the difference between the two types of gangs of thugs.

I feel much safer in the company of a crypt than in the custody of the MET.

Do they not understand that we, the people, are willing to hold them accountable and uphold the rule of law, turning their kangaroo courts to our justice.

That girl has got guts... her and Barbara Tucker have a lot of good in common.

Well done FIT-watch!

I will post some fitpictures for your perusal over the holidays... I have a few odd shots of the odd fit-idiot.

Charity Sweet XXX

12 December 2007 at 13:55
Anonymous said...

Surely a Taser would have resolved the confrontation. And that women that was the gob shite I saw driving a BMW X5 in Chelsea outside starbucks with a double mocha choca latte! On her way to a fox hunt. So why was she at a Bash the Rich demo, surely she should of been at a neuter the lefty protesting crusty scum march !

8 January 2008 at 08:44
Anonymous said...

crusty bashing - love it

8 July 2008 at 07:27
Annie Mouse said...

I hope some of these criminals in hats were done for assault. Especially that lying tosser near the start who said the demonstrators were 'obstructing the police' when they were only obstructing a civilian.

8 April 2009 at 21:41

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