JUNE 18TH 1999

And mismanagement of a peaceful protest resulted in three police vehicles being stranded in a crowd in excess of 7000 people . Party goers danced on the vehicles and stuck on ‘f**k the royal wedding CANCEL third world debt’ slogans . At which point the officers inside the vehicles panicked out of all proportion to the situation and tried to make a high speed exit in a crowded street . The lead van ran over a young girl with both sets of wheels and didn’t stop . I’ll repeat DIDN’T STOP!!! This van luckily made police lines . BIG THANX TO THE PROTESTER WHO WAS SENSIBLE ENOUGH TO RUN TO AND GET THE AMBULANCE

The remaining two vans were leaving more slowly , they were being jostled and kicked now . But instead of leaving inexplicably they stopped and got out of their vehicles in full riot gear ! - steel telescopic truncheons and shields .They then proceeded to lash out at the already agitated crowd, inflaming the situation further before returning to vans again having achieved nothing and leaving the crowd bewildered and angry .

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In the resulting chaos banks were set alight ,McDonalds got trashed and the futures market saw some extra action , a fire hydrant was popped and in the resulting fountain people danced and reveled . The whole atmosphere had started to relax again I found myself sitting chatting with new and old friends, the party atmosphere had returned . People sat around drumming , talking . Sound systems pumped everything from classical to hard-core and the people partied on. Suddenly the ambiance changed people rushed past us as police in full riot gear advanced on the crowd . Something had gone wrong ! The police? We had dogs and children in our group so it became necessary to evacuate rapidly . Only to find ourselves in another larger cordon . So silly me I asked a policeman the way to the nearest tube and he pointed over to the three deep line of riot police and told us if we didn’t get back on the other side of riot line he’d arrest us ! Hello ??????? “No ? Hello I asked the way to the nearest tube mate” As this bizarre dialogue continued I watched this same line of riot police baton the crowd in front !! We had children and dogs !!A peaceful days protest had been turned into a confrontational violent situation . Prior to this we’d partied peacefully for 3 hours in and around Liverpool Street station .People climbing buildings, banners being flown and the sounds of carnival thumped through the surrounding offices . Many of whom left work and came to join the fun. The crowd was a mass of painted faces , brightly-coloured costumes and awash with smiles. So what happened?

(ANON) E -MAIL