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Audio report from the first smashEDO demo held after the interim injunction was put in place. 8 of the 40 demonstrators there were arrested.
email from smashEDO:
http://www.smashedo.org.uk
8 people were violently arrested at the Big Demo at arms dealers EDO MBM in Brighton on Tuesday. 6 are from Brighton, 1 from London and 1 from Manchester.
This was the first big demo since the (very watered down) injunction was granted, and the police wasted no time in singling out an 80 year old man and dragging him accross the street where three cops pinned him down, face on the tarmac, with their knees painfully in his back. A further arrest was
made and then the police formed a line and pushed en masse into the crowd of around 40 protesters *inside* the designated protest area.
For those unfamiliar with the geography at EDO, the designated protest zone is a 2 meter wide grass verge with a 40 foot vertical drop on one side and a road (exclusion zone) on the other. Several people fell over when the police charged and it was a matter of luck that nobody fell over the edge. Police harassment continued but didn't dent a lively and noisy demonstration despite further violent and arbitrary arrests, including one where a man was snatched from the crowd and dragged accross the road by his neck.
Interestingly no-one was arrested for breaching the injunction but were instead fitted up with 'wilfully obstructing a public highway', section 5 for causing harassment, alarm and distress, and 'assaulting a police officer'. Police used force to prevent people with cameras and legal observers getting a view as the only assaults were those carried out by them
which will be proved by all the video evidence gathered by those present.
Pre-trial hearings have been scheduled for 13-15 June at Brighton Magistrates and all the arrestees have bail conditions preventing them entering Home Farm Road.
As the Argus pointed out on the front page yesterday the demo on June 11 promises to be a Huge One. We will be assembling on the Level near St Peter's Church at 12. Therewill be a rally with open mic before a march around town led by a samba band., route as yet unspecified. As there is
unlikely to be a level playing field bring along cameras as well as banners and placards.
To keep up the pressure on the arms dealers and show them what a waste of money the injunction and fence are there will be weekly noise demos at EDO from 4-6 on Wednesdays. EDO obviously can't bear to be reminded of the lethal consequences of thier actions so it's only a matter of time before Home Farm Road is a weapons free zone again and we can turn our attention to other companies hiding in the local area that are complicit in the global arms trade.