Occupy lsx 3 - Good Cop / Bad Cop

Categories: uncategorized

Date: 20 October 2011 08:43:42

The continued presence of occupations depends upon the way relations with external people are developed and maintained. It also depends upon the police and protesters not coming in to conflict, as we have seen elsewhere.

During my time at Occupy lsx I saw the way that heavy policing turned low key, after attempts to either provoke the protesters or get them to quietly go failed. It's all operating on a basis which could change at any point according to the decisions made and the people who have become involved.

It was about 7:30pm on Sunday evening when the message came through. The police are taking the toilets away to clean them, but don't worry they are coming back. Half an hour or so later the message came through that the police had taken the toilets but had then said they were not going to return them. The police had tricked the protesters, so you had about 500 people - about 200 of whom were camping out and no toilets on Sunday evening. In reply to this somebody found where the nearest stations, etc which would be open were and gave this information whilst also instructing people, "don't piss up the wall of the cathedral - it's a historic building we need to respect."

Soon after, whilst the general assembly was still taking place the police started putting up barriers. They said they weren't kettling us in though. Um - sorry, but they'd lied to us not half an hour before about the toilets and so we weren't up for believing all they said. This is when something special happened. The person talking to the police gave the arguments the police had put forward and then went through the arguments against co-operating. It was a tense moment. Then somebody came up with the idea of would they accept us putting up our own barriers? The police amazingly agreed and took away their metal barriers allowing us to use bunting and chalk lines instead.

The question remains of when/ if the police will put barriers up; they were being driven past at various points. But for the moment a creative solution had been found. This illustrates how the Occupy protests are differing from old skool protests. Rather than reacting against provocative police measures and starting the riot many view as inevitable something different and creative is happening.

In terms of other police practice there is the inevitable filming and surveillance and during the day I saw officers wandering around - listening in on conversations and making notes. I also have no doubt that there will be undercover officers/ agent provocateurs (?) within the protesters.

Looking at wider links and relationship being depended upon the businesses nearby are being positive. Starbucks is actually benefiting as it has i) good coffee, ii) phone charging facilities and iii) a toilet. Police, journalists and those protesters who do not have ethical objections to Starbucks are all mixing together here.

Restaurants and individuals are donating to the camp kitchen and an ethical social enterprise company has come and said their customers have asked them to see how they can help.

Then there is the relationship with the Cathedral. I was impressed not only by Giles Frasers initial response but also by the way the protesters and church have sought to sensitively work together since.

On Monday I witnessed one exhausted protester involved in the church liaison team failing to manage to get a proper break because he was seeking to not only get all concerns but to communicate why clearing the steps and so forth was vital due to the income the Cathedral depends upon.

It will be interesting to see what will happen these fragile shoots of co-operation and creativity. I am aware of reports coming from others of the 20 occupations in the UK that factions are already forming, particularly around the usual question of whether action should be fluffy or spiky. I hope fluffy continues to win the day.