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Wednesday 12 August 2009

Fitwatch Call - DISARM DSEi Meeting - 16th August

Resist the FIT Teams at the DISARM DSEi public meeting.
1:45pm, Calthorpe Arms, Grays Inn Road (nearest tubes Russell Square and Kings Cross).

Just under two and a half years ago, the first Fitwatch action occurred outside a DISARM DSEi public meeting.

Despite vast amounts of intimidation and repression, Fitwatch has gone from strength to strength, and now people all over the country are taking measures to combat the invasive tactics of harassment style policing.

Traditionally, DSEi protests and meetings have attracted large numbers of FIT - although last week at a demo against the organisers of DSEi (Clarion Events) in Hatton Gardens, only Discombe turned up, and stood looking very sheepish with two City cops on the other side of the road. And, whilst he made copious notes, no photographer was present, and people were allowed to freely demonstrate.

However, since DISARM DSEi was formed in 2003, there has not been a public meeting where FIT have not turned up. We are calling for anyone who has ever thought about engaging in Fitwatch tactics to turn up to this meeting, confront them, and shut them down.

We will not put up with being photographed, monitored and entered into a database for turning up at a public meeting.

This year's DSEi will be the first major test of public order policing post G20 - let's set the tone at the public meeting and show any attempts to use FIT against us will be met with robust opposition and we will no longer be the passive recipients of repressive policing.

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7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would offer that just becuase they didnt appear to be overt at Hatton Gardens they would of been lurking somewhere or other doing what they do best.
I guess there are a couple of ways of viewing this, Fitwatch may well have deterred overt FIT'ing but forced covert skulking as process which now means there is no real idea of what is actually going on.
Or it may well be the calm before the storm, can you seriously expect there to be no reaction from the boys on blue if you have upset the apple cart.
I woudl hazard a guess that the coming months will prove very interesting indeed as to how the Police react to having one of their prime tools affected by FITWATCH.
Personally speaking i would tread very carefully indeed becuase i really do think the cops will not take too kindly to being made to look liek they are on the back foot with this.
These are just my personal opinions i have no affiliation whatsoever with either camp.

12 August 2009 at 03:29
Anonymous said...

A good point though covert surveillance requires prior authorisation under RIPA so if cops are doing it they need to be held to account. I think I speak for many of us when I say we're sick & tired of cops breaking or twisting the law without punishment. It's time we all resisted so that cops face full sanctions when they break the law / lie / cheat or perjure themselves.

12 August 2009 at 05:40
Anonymous said...

just because you didn't see them doesn't mean they weren't there (and by the way, they were) as was inevitable the more you made the overt FIT teams activities less viable by actively blocking/pushing them.

12 August 2009 at 05:43
Anonymous said...

Of course anyone who wants FitWatch to stop because of the effect they're having would say that all they've done is caused FIT to operate covertly.

The lack of overt harassment is a win in itself, and if the police are now using covert surveillance then either they're getting authorisation for it (which means that what they're doing is being monitored at a higher level) or they're doing it illegally, which will eventually result in them getting prosecuted.

12 August 2009 at 06:17
FIT Watch said...

We've always assumed the police conduct covert surveillance. Overt surveillance is conducted in conjunction with covert surveillance.

However, whilst covert surveillance is about intelligence gathering, overt surveillance is more often used as a means of harassing and intimidating activists.

Fitwatch was formed in response to this overt surveillance - because we were fed up with turning up to meetings and protests and being harassed. We were also sick of hearing people were scared to turn up to meetings/protests because of FIT presence.

Obviously, anyone worried about protecting their anonymity should still mask up on demos/going to meetings whether or not they see a camera.

However, any lessening in the tactics they are using is a real victory for people showing they will not put up with these tactics.

12 August 2009 at 07:08
Anonymous said...

Good meeting. Plenty of new tactics to be deployed on the day.

The message to the police is: behave or be hung out to dry.

FITwatcher

16 August 2009 at 08:25
Eerie Headquarters said...

Thankks great post

22 October 2023 at 09:51

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