Autonomous Actions On June 18th
London Actions
Hundreds of financial sector workers failed to turn up for the day having been ordered by their firms to avoid the City for fear of possible riots. So, some disruption was caused in the City even before anyone really did anything.
Paint Job
Five small groups went to London to splatter 5 places with paint at one minute past midnight on June 18th. Unfortunately due to last-minute organisational problems and police surveillance of the squats they had planned to stay in, only one group set off for its target.
Undeterred, this group homed in on the London Metal Exchange and scored a hit, liberally spattering it with pink paint!
Road And Rail Blockades
Fire alarms in 3 consecutive tube stations on the district and circle lines were activated (the theory being that this would cause the whole line to close). The 4th station couldn't be done because it had been evacuated, suggesting that it works.
Two climbers closed Tower Bridge to traffic by abseiling into the path of traffic from one of the towers. A banner was hung, reading 'Life Before Profit'. They were removed by police climbers who appeared to be ready for this sort of eventuality. They were arrested, but got away with a caution and were released in time for the carnival.
At 8.15am rush hour traffic attempting to enter Moorgate road on its way into the square mile, was blocked off by activists who D-locked steel cable from one side of the road to the other and attatched a banner to it reading "warning: steel cable: city closed". It is not known for how long this remained in place as the activists left quickly due to a high police presence!
One group didn't make it to their meeting point due to tube chaos, and joined the animal rights march instead.
Critical Mass
At 7.45 a.m about 5-600 cyclists staged a critical mass cycle ride, disrupting the flow of traffic all over the Square Mile. This carried on all morning, continuing to jam the city streets untill 12.00 noon when it met with the Carnival Against Capital at Liverpool Street Station.
Brighton Blocks A Big Bridge!
Before they set off to do their action the Brighton group held 3 training days which included legal briefings, self defence workshops and discussions on the theory and practice of affinity groups. On the day itself 40 people barricaded London Bridge during the morning rush hour.
The plan was to chain together and trash 3 cars, one in each of the North-bound lanes taking traffic into the City. Meanwhile the South-bound lane would be blocked by a chain sporting an enormous red, green and black banner reading 'Stop The City'.
Unfortunately one of the cars broke down quarter of a mile away from the Bridge, so one of the carriageways was left unblocked. A heavy police presence resulted in 3 arrests for fairly minor offences, however, most groups managed to complete their tasks, evade arrest and enjoy the rest of the day.
Bunch Of Bankers
The Campaign Against the Arms Trade targeted Lloyds, Natwest and Friends Provident in the City to protest at their support for the arms export trade.
At Friends Provident only a couple of people managed to get inside, but a banner was dropped from the roof reading 'Capitalising on Misery'. Friends Provident holds over 4 million shares in British Aerospace which is the largest arms exporter in Europe, having sold weapons to Turkey, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Chile.
Lloyds, one of the primary banks used by arms exporters, was the next target which was successfully occupied by about 9 people, 4 of whom locked on, while a picket was held outside. The occupation lasted from 9.3am - 1.30pm, forcing the bank to close for the day.
Nat West was also visited for a hour, and whilst work was not stopped lots of leaflets were given out. Meanwhile at Aldgate Station free food and leaflets were distributed.
Contact CAAT: 0171 281 0297.
Scrap Gap
International Solidarity with Workers in Russia (ISWoR) held an action against the Oxford Street branch of Gap, a clothing multinational, in protest against the brutal exploitation of workers employed by Gap in Russia, who sew for as little as 11 US cents an hour.
The action was originally planned mainly as a phone blitz, as the organisers did not want to pull people away from the City of London. However, a press release accidentally went out stating that there would be a presence at the shop all day, so an action was organised at the last minute.
Labels describing the working conditions in Russia were inserted by protesters all through the stock of clothes, causing disruption, despite the shop's security plan and police presence. Afterwards customers were leafleted with information about the issue. Some of the shop-workers were found to be sympathetic. The phone blockade also went ahead as planned.
Contact: International Solidarity with Workers in Russia, Box R, 46 Denmark Hill, London, SE5 8RZ.
Anti-Mac
McDonalds on Liverpool Street was picketed, around midday, by several hundred people whilst waiting to gather for the carnival.
At 4pm, a small group of people left the carnival to picket the Aroma cafe in Bishopsgate, McDonalds having bought the Aroma cafe chain earlier this year. They arrived to find a lot of police waiting for them, which turned out not to be a problem as the cafe was already shut, presumably to avoid the protest.
Contact: London Greenpeace - 0171 713 1269.
Unions Targeted
About 40 activists, including some from the Northern Anarchist Network, invaded the head offices of the TUC and the country's largest union, Unison. Whilst not actually in the Square Mile, the action was planned to emphasise how unions are hand in hand with Capital. Unions have consistently sold out workers, recent examples being the Liverpool Dockers, the Hillingdon Strikers and the Magnet workers.
Office workers were leafleted and lots of disruption caused. It was felt to be a good action, with no arrests.
No New Deal!
At 10.00 a.m the Reed office on Moorgate was picketed as part of the campaign against Reeds' involvement in the New Deal. The New Deal will force people on benefits into unpaid work, which will also lower the wages of those in work. Reed are implementing the scheme in London.
About 20 people handed out leaflets outside the office for an hour. The office closed for the day!
At this point the pickets moved on to BP's head quarters where they protested against BP's collaboration with the Colombian state, reading out the names of trade unionists and peasant activists, killed by Colombian death squads.
Contact: Haringey Solidarity Group - 0181 374 5027.
Animal Abuse Is As Transnational As Capital!
London Animal Action decided to protest against the exploitation of animals under capitalism. About 200 people marched behind a banner which read 'Kill Capitalism Not Animals', to the offices of the British Chicken Association and the British Poultry Association. They then went to the HQ of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund, which experiments on animals, before marching into the City of London to meet up with the carnival at Liverpool Street. There was a huge police presence, including photographers, but no arrests.
Contact: London Animal Action - BM 2248, WC1N 3XX. Tel: 0171 278 3068.
Get Off Our Space!
The Association of Autonomous Astronauts protested against the militarisation of space. Wearing space suits and giving out propaganda, they gathered with banners reading 'Stop Star Wars. Military out of Space'.
At their target, Lockheed Martin, they distributed leaflets and a delegation headed for the reception area to deliver a letter demanding the hand-over of all Lockheed's resources to the AAA and the cessation of all weapons construction.
One astronaut said of the protest: 'All in all, a good day out, and proof positive that community based space exploration is on the up'.
Association of Autonomous Astronauts: Box 15,138 Kingsland High St., London, E8 2NS.
KPMG Occupation
People from the South West occupied the offices of KPMG auditors in London. KPMG manage accounts and give financial advice for a wide array of dodgy companies including Nestle, Pepsi, ICI, Zeneca, British Aerospace and Rolls Royce. Just before 9am, the occupiers entered the building and made their way to the top floor offices. One was manhandled out by security guards, but the remaining 7 activists split into 2 groups, each finding separate offices.
One group happily barricaded for 40 minutes until they were removed. Leaflets were distributed to company workers outside. The second group settled down to some 'file tidying' and phoning friends outside, including the garment workers union of Bangladesh to send a message of solidarity. They remained in occupation for 2 hours. Many workers were distracted and amused, even coming from other floors to see the action. There were no arrests.
Drop The Debt
Campaign group People and Planet formed a human chain most of the way round the Treasury for the cancellation of the 3rd world debt.
Mini Carnival
People from Newcastle went to the Petroleum Exchange where they leafleted pedestrians and chalked slogans about the outcomes of oil exploitation on the building and pavement.
They then had a procession through the streets of London, led by a masked Tony Blair, stopping off at various banks including Lloyds HQ. They held banners, gave out leaflets and chalked slogans. The final destination was the Bank of England.
Contact Tyneside Action for People and Planet: PO Box ITA, Newcastle, NE1 1TA.