This week’s episode of Waking the dead was timely because the subject matter. Similar to last week, touched directly on my past experience. The plot is not historically based but does contain many elements of truth about protest, underground political forces and networks, the role of government and the security forces, and of the media, and of basic human nature. The cold case team are called when the body of a Falkland’s war soldier. turned mass movement peace campaigner, who disappeared 28 years earlier, is discovered in an unknown underground river tunnel in central London beneath Whitehall.
There are several flaws in the story which I will mention at the outset. The peace campaign is fictitious because at that time there was no CND type mass movement in the UK but Women’s Peace Camps at places such as Greenham Common, Faslane, Aldermaston and Fairford. In the mid 1980’s there was a direct action movement against the deployment of cruise missiles which could be used from mobile firing platforms. I have found a Los Angeles Times report dated November 5th 1986 which records that 100 anti nuclear protestors ambushed a convoy of six US cruise missiles launchers before dawn cutting air brake hoses and crippling the vehicles for more than one hour. Two men and two women were arrested and charged with obstructing the highway in connection with the protest, organised by the Cruise Watch Group.
The two part episode, Solidarity, begins as four friends celebrate at Oxford, I assume late 1970’s, and come across someone writing a Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament type slogan and one of them picks up a rock to throw at him. We do not see the outcome but it serves to indicate that they are not sympathetic to any kind of unilateral peace movement.
Later we learn that one of the men and the only girl are twins and children of a junior Conservative Minister in the Ministry of Defence in the new Margaret Thatcher government of the early 1980‘s. One is a young man who serves bravely in the Falklands campaign, Piers Kennedy while the fourth is a Russian immigrant, Oleg Leontyev, whose human rights parents where killed by the Russian regime after which he was smuggled out into the West with the help of relative.
The body is that of Piers Kennedy we the team learned that shortly after returning from the Falklands, left the army and became a leading an influential spokesman for the a newly former CNC type peace movement created by Ralph Palmer played by Jack Shepherd and now married to Bonnie Yorke who had been his girl friend before she became the lover of Piers at the time of his disappearance. Palmer was interviewed when the former soldier went missing as a suspect because he had lost Bonnie to Piers. He and Bonnie said they had not seen Piers after a party held following a rally in Hyde Park. Before the conversion Piers had been the boyfriend of the daughter of the Tory junior Minister and had become a Conservative Party Member of Parliament and remained single. The former Peace campaigners had since married with a daughter and claimed a government agency had disappeared Piers because of his conversion. The team discover that on return from the Falklands Piers had been diagnosed with a disease which was then terminal and this appeared to explain his conversion to the peace movement
While the team interview three of the Oxford four and the parent of the twins there is no involvement by any member of the family of Piers which given what happens in previous series I found puzzling. However the biggest flaw is the idea that the body would have remained undiscovered in an underground working close to Whitehall. It is elementary that even before IRA Terrorism came to mainland UK and to London, let alone since 9/11 that all underground workings in central London will have been sealed if not in use and regularly inspected if they are required.
Immediately the unit are called in MI5 sends an emissary to tell Trevor Eve, unit head, to show extreme caution because there are matters which must remain secret because of their national security significance.
The officer also expresses concern about the involvement of Sue Johnson the unit psychologist profiler who was a peace movement support at the time of the disappearance of Piers. We learn, although it not clear if MI5 also knew that just before the disappearance of Pier she had become the lover of his best and fellow Falkland Officer Murray Stuart, played by John McArdle who if a remember starred with Sheila in the ill fated soap Brookside. He had disappeared from her life without explanation at the same as Piers who had been introduced to her by Murray at the party after the Hyde Park. The two had gone off for a secret chat and later Murray had appeared at her flat in a distressed condition with a case in which she had seen a rapid fire gun.
The Russian member of the quartet Oleg had gone to work in the Ministry of Defence and had become a major player in the arms trade and was negotiating a replacement to the replacement of Trident at the present time. He is also seen in footage shot of the Hyde Park speech 28 years earlier calling his former friend a traitor. MI5 say he cannot be interviewed.
The twin brother of the present Member of Parliament had died in a diving accident in the lake District shortly after the events of 28 years earlier and the team note discrepancies in the information about his death.
The forensic expert at the unit, Dr Eve Locheart, finds that evidence of another entrance to the area where the body was found which she explores and finds herself in the quadrangle of the Ministry of Defence Building and she is held in darkness until her identity is confirmed.
These developments appear to point to the involvement of the M.O.D/MI5 in the deaths. However this is not so.
This is what emerged over the two episodes. The former Falklands Office on finding that he had a terminal illness decided that the best contribution he could make was to discredit the new CND movement. He had seduced the female activist Bonnie Yorke in order to get close to the leadership of the organisation. Using inside information he had then planned the capture of a missile en route to a base. This had involved his former girlfriend who had filmed the event, her bother and Murray together with Oleg who obtained the information about the movement of the missile from his work at the MOD
The film shows Piers taking off his glove and placing his hand on the Missile thus ensuring that the authorities would be able to identify him. During the incident one of the captured soldiers had got weapons and in the melee he had fallen into a ditch at the roadside, broke his neck and died instantly. The panic had been caused by the twin brother and the man who had pushed the soldier into the ditch was friend and lover of Sue Johnson.
Sue uses official links to find out the location of the former lover telling the Det Superintendent recently attached to the unit not to tell Trevor Eve which she does nevertheless. Sue’s interest is to find out why she was dumped, why the gun and what part he played. He gives her the video which he says will explain what happened. He wants to know what happened to his friend Piers and appears to suffer hallucinations and nightmares about what happened even though the death of the soldier was accidental.
Under pressure from the discovery of the body and being interviewed, the Tony Member of Parliament visits Oleg at his office and they drink lots of Vodka together suggesting they have something to hide. Murray makes contact with the woman and gives her the number of a car which he noted following her. She asks him to call at her flat but as he gets there she is being murdered by two men who knock out the visitor and place the gun which killed in his hands. Fortunately he comes to in time to make an escape after advising the police of the murder. He then contacts Sue and agrees to meet her in a park. Against the advice of the Det Superintendent Trevor agrees to Sue going to the meeting when her former lover on finding that she is not alone pushes her away, she falls, hits head and later a blood clot is formed, she collapses at the office and survives an operation.
The team has interviewed the former Minister prior to the loss of his second child. They had indicated that there were suspicions about the death of the twin son and that both had participated in the attempt to discredit the new CND movement. The team have also interview the MP and the Russian born fourth member of the group after he volunteers a meeting despite MI5 saying he could not be approached because of the current National Interest. He is bold in his approach and leaves but shortly afterwards he is shot dead by the Minister after he is convinced from the evidence presented that Oleg had them killed using members of his private security force. However before his death Oleg is adamant he had no involvement in the death of Piers.
The team also become aware that it is likely neither he or the M.O.D or MI5 were involved in the death. This is because they learn that Piers visited Holly before he disappeared to explain that he had originally joined the movement to discredit but had been converted as a result of their relationship. The team minus Dr Foley in hospital recovering from the blood clot operation, visit the home fo the former peace campaigners and find that a new floor had been placed over an existing one in the kitchen area and that analysis shows there was a lot of blood on the original. They have learned that Piers had visited Holly after the rally party and that the child registered to her and her husband was not his and presumably of Piers. We had also been told that the husband had published a work on London’s secret undergrounds workings and which had made reference to the underground river where the body was found.
The truth then emerges that despite the admission of Shepherd that he killed Piers, it was Holly who having just found she was pregnant had been shocked by his admission and lashed out with a knife. They had then taken the body to where it was found and Shepherd and smashed the knee caps so that if the body was found it would mislead the authorities.
There are three others aspects of this second of three stories in the present series worth mentioning. In a conversation between the MI5 liaison chief and the Detective Superintendent attached to the unit she complains about the risks taken by Trevor and in effect recommends that he is replaced.
Sue has also told John that they will have further contact suggesting that the former romance between them remains.
The MOD on government orders blanked out the missile hijack and the dead officer was given an alternative death.
This is long preamble to the events in London on the Saturday and in the context of my piece before Christmas 1093/2093 when I used the recent central London protest in connection with student loans and the funding of High Education in England to remember aspects of my involvement with the peace movement of the later 50’s and early sixties.
On Saturday between a quarter and a half million families marched in protest from the Embankment to Hyde Park through central London in protest at the level and speed of government measure to restructure the economy between the public and private sectors and reduce the level of government borrowings. It was biggest demonstration the capital since the opposition to the invasion in Iraq in 2003. The problem is that there were two additional protests one peaceful and one violent which attracted all the media attention.
UK Uncut ts a protest group formed in 2010 to protest against tax avoidance in the UK by banks and International Corporations It uses non violent direct action to close stores known for evading tax payments to the UK government. The organisation successfully closed the Oxford Street Vodafone store. Vodafone according to Private Eye negotiated a settlement with Customs and exercise to reduce their unpaid tax liability from £6 billion to £4 billion.
Topshops, BHS and Burton have been targeted because by the registered owner living outside the UK no tax is paid and HSBC has been found to have avoided £2 billion by channelling profits through the Netherlands. Boots were target in January and three people needed hospital treatment after the police used CS Spray on the protestors. In February the group which uses Twitter and Facebook targeted banks because of the Bonuses being paid and alleged tax avoidance
It is therefore logical that the group would want to demonstrate again on a day protesting against the severe reductions on public expenditure, particularly local government services. In February the group which uses Twitter and Facebook targeted banks because of the Bonuses being paid. It is known that over 150 people entered Fortnum and Mason, the high class supplier of good food and wine because of alleged tax avoidance during demonstration day and announced an occupation. The police entered and removed demonstrators charging 149 people with aggravated trespass as they left the store after being told they were free to leave. This was a clever police tactic which shows good pre demo planning on their part. It would be interesting to learn if the group advised the police in advance of their operations in keeping with the spirit of Satyagraha, if participants are prepared for the implications of arrest and imprisonment if they are unwilling to pay fines. Similarly it is presumed the intelligence services/police will have had their inside placements
This brings to the violent group called the Black Bloc. It would be interesting to live long enough to learn who is behind the Black Bloc movement. The government, M5, the police, the military, the extreme right or Left? The suggestion that they are anarchists with knowledge of anarchism is also questionable as these are predominantly pacifist. They are in my view the children of the 18-30 holiday generation that in the 1980’s I witnessed then in Northern Spain getting drunk and wrecking whatever it was possible to wreck to hand. Perhaps they are relatives of the football fascists and tribal gangsters that I also witnessed at their worst during the 1980’s. Perhaps they were members of a force on a training exercise or paid provocateurs out to discredit on the apart from some secret organisation representing International business tax avoiders.
The main reported attack on the say was against the Ritz Hotel but damaged was reported at restaurants, a car showroom, Topshop, Santander, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Countdown Clock and Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square was damaged with Graffiti and an attempts occupation of the Square and Hyde Park.
There was also film of supporters fighting with the police.
Wikipedia provided interesting background information
“A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding or other face-concealing items and often carry some sort of shields and truncheons The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to, theoretically, appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity.
The tactic was developed in the 1980s by autonomists protesting squatter evictions, nuclear power and restrictions on abortion among other things Black blocs gained broader media attention outside Europe during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations, when a black bloc damaged property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other multinational retail locations in downtown Seattle The “Black Bloc" is sometimes incorrectly reported as being the name of a specific anarchist group. It is, rather, a tactic that may be adopted by groups of various motivations and methods.
The tactic was developed following increased use of police force following the 1977 Brokdorf demonstration by the German police in 1980, particularly aimed at anti-nuclear activists and squatters. Key areas for this development were Hafenstraße, Hamburg, and Kreuzberg, Berlin. These were social spaces occupied by dissidents who preferred to create their own social institutions based on communal living and alternative community centres. In June 1980, the German Police forcefully evicted the Free Republic of Wendland, an anti-nuclear protest camp in Gorleben, Wendland. This attack on 5,000 peaceful protesters led many former pacifists to become willing to use violent methods. By December 1980 the Berlin City Government organised an escalating cycle of mass arrests, followed by other local authorities across West Germany. The squatters resisted by opening new squats, as the old ones were evicted. Following the mass arrest of squatters in Freiburg, demonstrations were held in their support in many German cities. The day was dubbed Black Friday following a demonstration in Berlin at which between 15,000 to 20,000 people took to the streets and destroyed an expensive shopping area. The tactic of wearing identical black clothes and masks meant that the autonomen were better able to resist the police and elude identification. The German media labeled them der schwarze Block ("the black block"). In the Netherlands, similar militant resistance developed, but the wearing of ski-masks was less prevalent and the phrase Black Helmet Brigade was used.
In 1986 Hamburg squatters mobilised following attacks on Hafenstraße. A demonstration of 10,000 took to the streets surrounding at least 1,500 people in a black bloc. They carried a large banner saying "Build Revolutionary Dual Power!" At the end of the march, the black bloc then engaged in street fighting that forced the police to retreat. The next day 13 department stores in Hamburg were set alight, causing nearly $10 million in damage. Later that year, following the Chernobyl disaster, militant anti-nuclear activists used the tactic.
When Ronald Reagan came to Berlin in June 1987, he was met by around 50,000 demonstrators protesting against his Cold War policies. This included a black bloc of 3,000 people. A couple of months later, police intensified their harassment of the Hafenstraße squatters. In November 1987, the residents were joined by thousands of other Autonomen and fortified their squat, built barricades in the streets and defended themselves against the police for nearly 24 hours. After this the city authorities legalised the squatters residence.
When the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund met in Berlin in 1988, the autonomen hosted an international gathering of anti-capitalist activists. Numbering around 80,000, the protesters completely outnumbered the police. Officials tried to maintain control by banning all demonstrations and attacking public assemblies. Nevertheless, there were riots and upmarket shopping areas were destroyed.
The first recorded use of the tactic in United States of America was in 1989 at a protest at the Pentagon. Other early use in the US were the Earth Day Wall Street Action in 1990 and the February 1991 protests against the Gulf War. These were initiated by Love and Rage, a North American revolutionary anarchist organization active in New York. Black blocs gained significant media attention when a black bloc caused damage to property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other retail locations in downtown Seattle during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations.They were a common feature of subsequent anti-globalization protests. During the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto, a black bloc riot damaged an Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Adidas Store, Starbucks and many banking establishments
Police and security services have infiltrated black blocs with agents provocateurs. Since all members conceal their identities, it is harder to recognize infiltrators. Allegations first surfaced after several demonstrations. At the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, amongst the many complaints about the police there was mention of video footage in which "men in black were seen getting out of police vans near protest marches." In August 2007, Quebec police admitted that "their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators." On these occasions, some were identified by genuine protesters because of their police-issue footwear But such recognition is difficult to make in video footage “
I rest my case.
There are several flaws in the story which I will mention at the outset. The peace campaign is fictitious because at that time there was no CND type mass movement in the UK but Women’s Peace Camps at places such as Greenham Common, Faslane, Aldermaston and Fairford. In the mid 1980’s there was a direct action movement against the deployment of cruise missiles which could be used from mobile firing platforms. I have found a Los Angeles Times report dated November 5th 1986 which records that 100 anti nuclear protestors ambushed a convoy of six US cruise missiles launchers before dawn cutting air brake hoses and crippling the vehicles for more than one hour. Two men and two women were arrested and charged with obstructing the highway in connection with the protest, organised by the Cruise Watch Group.
The two part episode, Solidarity, begins as four friends celebrate at Oxford, I assume late 1970’s, and come across someone writing a Campaign Against Nuclear Disarmament type slogan and one of them picks up a rock to throw at him. We do not see the outcome but it serves to indicate that they are not sympathetic to any kind of unilateral peace movement.
Later we learn that one of the men and the only girl are twins and children of a junior Conservative Minister in the Ministry of Defence in the new Margaret Thatcher government of the early 1980‘s. One is a young man who serves bravely in the Falklands campaign, Piers Kennedy while the fourth is a Russian immigrant, Oleg Leontyev, whose human rights parents where killed by the Russian regime after which he was smuggled out into the West with the help of relative.
The body is that of Piers Kennedy we the team learned that shortly after returning from the Falklands, left the army and became a leading an influential spokesman for the a newly former CNC type peace movement created by Ralph Palmer played by Jack Shepherd and now married to Bonnie Yorke who had been his girl friend before she became the lover of Piers at the time of his disappearance. Palmer was interviewed when the former soldier went missing as a suspect because he had lost Bonnie to Piers. He and Bonnie said they had not seen Piers after a party held following a rally in Hyde Park. Before the conversion Piers had been the boyfriend of the daughter of the Tory junior Minister and had become a Conservative Party Member of Parliament and remained single. The former Peace campaigners had since married with a daughter and claimed a government agency had disappeared Piers because of his conversion. The team discover that on return from the Falklands Piers had been diagnosed with a disease which was then terminal and this appeared to explain his conversion to the peace movement
While the team interview three of the Oxford four and the parent of the twins there is no involvement by any member of the family of Piers which given what happens in previous series I found puzzling. However the biggest flaw is the idea that the body would have remained undiscovered in an underground working close to Whitehall. It is elementary that even before IRA Terrorism came to mainland UK and to London, let alone since 9/11 that all underground workings in central London will have been sealed if not in use and regularly inspected if they are required.
Immediately the unit are called in MI5 sends an emissary to tell Trevor Eve, unit head, to show extreme caution because there are matters which must remain secret because of their national security significance.
The officer also expresses concern about the involvement of Sue Johnson the unit psychologist profiler who was a peace movement support at the time of the disappearance of Piers. We learn, although it not clear if MI5 also knew that just before the disappearance of Pier she had become the lover of his best and fellow Falkland Officer Murray Stuart, played by John McArdle who if a remember starred with Sheila in the ill fated soap Brookside. He had disappeared from her life without explanation at the same as Piers who had been introduced to her by Murray at the party after the Hyde Park. The two had gone off for a secret chat and later Murray had appeared at her flat in a distressed condition with a case in which she had seen a rapid fire gun.
The Russian member of the quartet Oleg had gone to work in the Ministry of Defence and had become a major player in the arms trade and was negotiating a replacement to the replacement of Trident at the present time. He is also seen in footage shot of the Hyde Park speech 28 years earlier calling his former friend a traitor. MI5 say he cannot be interviewed.
The twin brother of the present Member of Parliament had died in a diving accident in the lake District shortly after the events of 28 years earlier and the team note discrepancies in the information about his death.
The forensic expert at the unit, Dr Eve Locheart, finds that evidence of another entrance to the area where the body was found which she explores and finds herself in the quadrangle of the Ministry of Defence Building and she is held in darkness until her identity is confirmed.
These developments appear to point to the involvement of the M.O.D/MI5 in the deaths. However this is not so.
This is what emerged over the two episodes. The former Falklands Office on finding that he had a terminal illness decided that the best contribution he could make was to discredit the new CND movement. He had seduced the female activist Bonnie Yorke in order to get close to the leadership of the organisation. Using inside information he had then planned the capture of a missile en route to a base. This had involved his former girlfriend who had filmed the event, her bother and Murray together with Oleg who obtained the information about the movement of the missile from his work at the MOD
The film shows Piers taking off his glove and placing his hand on the Missile thus ensuring that the authorities would be able to identify him. During the incident one of the captured soldiers had got weapons and in the melee he had fallen into a ditch at the roadside, broke his neck and died instantly. The panic had been caused by the twin brother and the man who had pushed the soldier into the ditch was friend and lover of Sue Johnson.
Sue uses official links to find out the location of the former lover telling the Det Superintendent recently attached to the unit not to tell Trevor Eve which she does nevertheless. Sue’s interest is to find out why she was dumped, why the gun and what part he played. He gives her the video which he says will explain what happened. He wants to know what happened to his friend Piers and appears to suffer hallucinations and nightmares about what happened even though the death of the soldier was accidental.
Under pressure from the discovery of the body and being interviewed, the Tony Member of Parliament visits Oleg at his office and they drink lots of Vodka together suggesting they have something to hide. Murray makes contact with the woman and gives her the number of a car which he noted following her. She asks him to call at her flat but as he gets there she is being murdered by two men who knock out the visitor and place the gun which killed in his hands. Fortunately he comes to in time to make an escape after advising the police of the murder. He then contacts Sue and agrees to meet her in a park. Against the advice of the Det Superintendent Trevor agrees to Sue going to the meeting when her former lover on finding that she is not alone pushes her away, she falls, hits head and later a blood clot is formed, she collapses at the office and survives an operation.
The team has interviewed the former Minister prior to the loss of his second child. They had indicated that there were suspicions about the death of the twin son and that both had participated in the attempt to discredit the new CND movement. The team have also interview the MP and the Russian born fourth member of the group after he volunteers a meeting despite MI5 saying he could not be approached because of the current National Interest. He is bold in his approach and leaves but shortly afterwards he is shot dead by the Minister after he is convinced from the evidence presented that Oleg had them killed using members of his private security force. However before his death Oleg is adamant he had no involvement in the death of Piers.
The team also become aware that it is likely neither he or the M.O.D or MI5 were involved in the death. This is because they learn that Piers visited Holly before he disappeared to explain that he had originally joined the movement to discredit but had been converted as a result of their relationship. The team minus Dr Foley in hospital recovering from the blood clot operation, visit the home fo the former peace campaigners and find that a new floor had been placed over an existing one in the kitchen area and that analysis shows there was a lot of blood on the original. They have learned that Piers had visited Holly after the rally party and that the child registered to her and her husband was not his and presumably of Piers. We had also been told that the husband had published a work on London’s secret undergrounds workings and which had made reference to the underground river where the body was found.
The truth then emerges that despite the admission of Shepherd that he killed Piers, it was Holly who having just found she was pregnant had been shocked by his admission and lashed out with a knife. They had then taken the body to where it was found and Shepherd and smashed the knee caps so that if the body was found it would mislead the authorities.
There are three others aspects of this second of three stories in the present series worth mentioning. In a conversation between the MI5 liaison chief and the Detective Superintendent attached to the unit she complains about the risks taken by Trevor and in effect recommends that he is replaced.
Sue has also told John that they will have further contact suggesting that the former romance between them remains.
The MOD on government orders blanked out the missile hijack and the dead officer was given an alternative death.
This is long preamble to the events in London on the Saturday and in the context of my piece before Christmas 1093/2093 when I used the recent central London protest in connection with student loans and the funding of High Education in England to remember aspects of my involvement with the peace movement of the later 50’s and early sixties.
On Saturday between a quarter and a half million families marched in protest from the Embankment to Hyde Park through central London in protest at the level and speed of government measure to restructure the economy between the public and private sectors and reduce the level of government borrowings. It was biggest demonstration the capital since the opposition to the invasion in Iraq in 2003. The problem is that there were two additional protests one peaceful and one violent which attracted all the media attention.
UK Uncut ts a protest group formed in 2010 to protest against tax avoidance in the UK by banks and International Corporations It uses non violent direct action to close stores known for evading tax payments to the UK government. The organisation successfully closed the Oxford Street Vodafone store. Vodafone according to Private Eye negotiated a settlement with Customs and exercise to reduce their unpaid tax liability from £6 billion to £4 billion.
Topshops, BHS and Burton have been targeted because by the registered owner living outside the UK no tax is paid and HSBC has been found to have avoided £2 billion by channelling profits through the Netherlands. Boots were target in January and three people needed hospital treatment after the police used CS Spray on the protestors. In February the group which uses Twitter and Facebook targeted banks because of the Bonuses being paid and alleged tax avoidance
It is therefore logical that the group would want to demonstrate again on a day protesting against the severe reductions on public expenditure, particularly local government services. In February the group which uses Twitter and Facebook targeted banks because of the Bonuses being paid. It is known that over 150 people entered Fortnum and Mason, the high class supplier of good food and wine because of alleged tax avoidance during demonstration day and announced an occupation. The police entered and removed demonstrators charging 149 people with aggravated trespass as they left the store after being told they were free to leave. This was a clever police tactic which shows good pre demo planning on their part. It would be interesting to learn if the group advised the police in advance of their operations in keeping with the spirit of Satyagraha, if participants are prepared for the implications of arrest and imprisonment if they are unwilling to pay fines. Similarly it is presumed the intelligence services/police will have had their inside placements
This brings to the violent group called the Black Bloc. It would be interesting to live long enough to learn who is behind the Black Bloc movement. The government, M5, the police, the military, the extreme right or Left? The suggestion that they are anarchists with knowledge of anarchism is also questionable as these are predominantly pacifist. They are in my view the children of the 18-30 holiday generation that in the 1980’s I witnessed then in Northern Spain getting drunk and wrecking whatever it was possible to wreck to hand. Perhaps they are relatives of the football fascists and tribal gangsters that I also witnessed at their worst during the 1980’s. Perhaps they were members of a force on a training exercise or paid provocateurs out to discredit on the apart from some secret organisation representing International business tax avoiders.
The main reported attack on the say was against the Ritz Hotel but damaged was reported at restaurants, a car showroom, Topshop, Santander, HSBC and the Royal Bank of Scotland. The Countdown Clock and Nelson’s column in Trafalgar Square was damaged with Graffiti and an attempts occupation of the Square and Hyde Park.
There was also film of supporters fighting with the police.
Wikipedia provided interesting background information
“A black bloc is a tactic for protests and marches, whereby individuals wear black clothing, scarves, ski masks, motorcycle helmets with padding or other face-concealing items and often carry some sort of shields and truncheons The clothing is used to avoid being identified, and to, theoretically, appear as one large mass, promoting solidarity.
The tactic was developed in the 1980s by autonomists protesting squatter evictions, nuclear power and restrictions on abortion among other things Black blocs gained broader media attention outside Europe during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations, when a black bloc damaged property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other multinational retail locations in downtown Seattle The “Black Bloc" is sometimes incorrectly reported as being the name of a specific anarchist group. It is, rather, a tactic that may be adopted by groups of various motivations and methods.
The tactic was developed following increased use of police force following the 1977 Brokdorf demonstration by the German police in 1980, particularly aimed at anti-nuclear activists and squatters. Key areas for this development were Hafenstraße, Hamburg, and Kreuzberg, Berlin. These were social spaces occupied by dissidents who preferred to create their own social institutions based on communal living and alternative community centres. In June 1980, the German Police forcefully evicted the Free Republic of Wendland, an anti-nuclear protest camp in Gorleben, Wendland. This attack on 5,000 peaceful protesters led many former pacifists to become willing to use violent methods. By December 1980 the Berlin City Government organised an escalating cycle of mass arrests, followed by other local authorities across West Germany. The squatters resisted by opening new squats, as the old ones were evicted. Following the mass arrest of squatters in Freiburg, demonstrations were held in their support in many German cities. The day was dubbed Black Friday following a demonstration in Berlin at which between 15,000 to 20,000 people took to the streets and destroyed an expensive shopping area. The tactic of wearing identical black clothes and masks meant that the autonomen were better able to resist the police and elude identification. The German media labeled them der schwarze Block ("the black block"). In the Netherlands, similar militant resistance developed, but the wearing of ski-masks was less prevalent and the phrase Black Helmet Brigade was used.
In 1986 Hamburg squatters mobilised following attacks on Hafenstraße. A demonstration of 10,000 took to the streets surrounding at least 1,500 people in a black bloc. They carried a large banner saying "Build Revolutionary Dual Power!" At the end of the march, the black bloc then engaged in street fighting that forced the police to retreat. The next day 13 department stores in Hamburg were set alight, causing nearly $10 million in damage. Later that year, following the Chernobyl disaster, militant anti-nuclear activists used the tactic.
When Ronald Reagan came to Berlin in June 1987, he was met by around 50,000 demonstrators protesting against his Cold War policies. This included a black bloc of 3,000 people. A couple of months later, police intensified their harassment of the Hafenstraße squatters. In November 1987, the residents were joined by thousands of other Autonomen and fortified their squat, built barricades in the streets and defended themselves against the police for nearly 24 hours. After this the city authorities legalised the squatters residence.
When the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund met in Berlin in 1988, the autonomen hosted an international gathering of anti-capitalist activists. Numbering around 80,000, the protesters completely outnumbered the police. Officials tried to maintain control by banning all demonstrations and attacking public assemblies. Nevertheless, there were riots and upmarket shopping areas were destroyed.
The first recorded use of the tactic in United States of America was in 1989 at a protest at the Pentagon. Other early use in the US were the Earth Day Wall Street Action in 1990 and the February 1991 protests against the Gulf War. These were initiated by Love and Rage, a North American revolutionary anarchist organization active in New York. Black blocs gained significant media attention when a black bloc caused damage to property of GAP, Starbucks, Old Navy, and other retail locations in downtown Seattle during the 1999 anti-WTO demonstrations.They were a common feature of subsequent anti-globalization protests. During the 2010 G20 Summit in Toronto, a black bloc riot damaged an Urban Outfitters, American Apparel, Adidas Store, Starbucks and many banking establishments
Police and security services have infiltrated black blocs with agents provocateurs. Since all members conceal their identities, it is harder to recognize infiltrators. Allegations first surfaced after several demonstrations. At the 2001 G8 summit in Genoa, amongst the many complaints about the police there was mention of video footage in which "men in black were seen getting out of police vans near protest marches." In August 2007, Quebec police admitted that "their officers disguised themselves as demonstrators." On these occasions, some were identified by genuine protesters because of their police-issue footwear But such recognition is difficult to make in video footage “
I rest my case.
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