fitwatch on the cop march

I was looking forward to spending a happy couple of hours on the police demo giving cops a hard time for claiming rights to demonstrate that they deny to others. For once the police were not doing everything they could to ID and photograph the marchers. They were not building up their database of ‘dissenters’. And they were not harassing or intimidating organisers. It was a far cry from how the normal public are treated when they seek to demonstrate.

But things sadly didn’t go to plan. Apparently I failed to follow the ‘Directions of the Police Commissioner’ which seems to be a posh way of saying ‘you must do as you are told’ And I ended up by seeing a lot more of the inside of a police cell than I did the march. No doubt our cop spammers will find that hilarious, and I’m glad to give them a laugh. But I was very sorry not to be able to spend more time with what seems to be a growing contingent of fitwatch supporters. It was great to see people turning out to support us.

I’ve not heard too much yet about how things went after the start of the march – contributions welcome to this blog. I have heard that Class War made sure that all of the cops on the march got a bit of unwelcome attention and some home truths, which is nice to hear.

Big thanks are in order to the fella who produced for us some very stylish black fitwatch bandanas, which were worn as facemasks to good effect, confusing the hell out of the police, who genuinely couldn’t tell who was doing what when, and frustrating the FIT photographer. There’s no doubt about it, a group of people with similar clothing and facemasks makes it damn hard for ‘intelligence gatherers’ to do their job. [With luck we may be able soon to offer the opportunity to acquire these stylish fashion accessories – in return for a small donation to the (presently non-existent) fitwatch funds. Watch this space.]

Admittedly we had small numbers on Wednesday, and what we did won’t shake the world. (Although I sincerely hope that most of those turning up had more fun than I did.) But something is better than nothing, and fitwatch is undoubtedly growing in support and activity. Bigger and better things to come.