arrests at the march against vivisection

the police arrested 3 people at the march against vivisection in newcastle todat

the police have relased one person but the two others are still in custody

please ring
0191 214 6555
and demand there imdeate realse

we are calling for people to get up to eatal lane police station where they are held

the male was arrested at aprox 1.30pm
and the female's unknown but not much later after 2

please use your solidarty and call th station demand there illgeal detentopn

newcastle animal rights
e-mail: newcastleAR@hotmail.com

Comments

Hide the following 11 comments

Any news on why the arrests?

09.10.2009 18:45

Solidarity with those arrested...

Sect 5

09.10.2009 19:47

for both i think.

Anon

Reason for arrests

09.10.2009 20:55

Thought there was one s.5, one breaking the injunction and *ahem* a sexual assault on a police officer.

I think

"I think"

09.10.2009 21:28

... is correct re the arrests

tonic

????

09.10.2009 21:52

I have been arrested so many times for animal rights related "offences" that I have lost count however if when i'd been arrested people had been calling and calling the police station asking for me to be released I would have been really p~ssed off about it. You never know what legal implications such things can have and I can well imagine any 'custody sargeant' getting more obstuctive or agressive than they usually are if they are bombarded with phone calls all day/night. By all means it is nice if people send in food or if someone waits outside the police station until you are released but you have to really know if the person arrested wants the police station to be hammered with phone calls before you put a shout out on the internet asking people to do so.

call the police station???

beyond anything

09.10.2009 22:11

I can only imagine you are saying 'Please use your solidarity and call the station and demand their illegal detention' !!! WTF?

Perplexed

@???

10.10.2009 22:05

If you have been arrested many times for AR activities you would know that we really appreciate the solidarity. There is no reason that calls to the station for arrested activists to be released would affect any possible court procedings.

You are a troll and we are sick to the core of having coppers trying to rip our movement apart. You are not even suble. Make it interesting for us cause we are getting SO bored with these tactics. Yawn.

erm what?

@???

11.10.2009 08:58

Totally agree with you. I have been arrested many times and I have been on the phone trying to build up a rapor with the custody sergeant into letting in food, newspapers, books to the prisoners also on many occassions.Most importantly if someone is in for a long time the VPSG might be negotiating regarding which court or prison someone will be going to and how to get vegan food and toiletries in. If the custody sergeant is pissed off this becomes difficult. I understand that one person has been remanded (the other 2 are OK and home).

We (one of the arrestees who was released almost immediately and I) were waiting for our freind and were dependant on the front desk keeping us updated, letting us use the loo and telling us where we could get food. They were helpful and we were all out of Newcastle by 21.30 for our 6 hour drive home (the remanded person is local and would have been OK for getting home).

A unilateral decision to call out for pressure on the police is not a good idea and could have caused problems. In the past I have been part of high jinks outside (and inside police stations) whilst we have all got bored waiting for arrestees. In one case whilst I (and about 12 others were in custody) someone with a drum outside was arrested themselves. On another occassion we all piled into the front desk and set up camp for someone we were waiting for (arrested because he made a complaint about assault from some hare coursers). In all cases we were on the ground and knew exactly what was happening. Of course solidarity is appreciated but consensus with the group, knowing the person/s in custody and what they would want, communication with those waiting outside and with the arrestees solicitor are vital elements in any decision to call for action against the police.

At the G8 people did excellent demos outside the prisons but only after discussion about legal isues and consensus being reached and following some horrendous police violence and maltreatment of prisoners, courts held in camera etc.

Lynn Sawyer

@ erm what?

11.10.2009 17:39

no im not a troll, I love how as soon as you speak up against the barrage of s+@t from all the ALF tshirt wearing keyboard activist loudmouths on here you get branded a troll.

are we as a movement not allowed to debate and discuss and speak out when we see people asking others to take part in something (eg the above telephone blockade of a police station) which could be quite clearly counterproductive??

if you are not there and you do not know the people in the situation it is best to just leave those decisions to those involved rather than potentially make life harder for the person in custody and the likes of the VPSG, those trying to get through to sort out a lift home, solicitors, people actually there and trying to send in vegan food, etc, etc, etc

thats the problem with some people in the animal rights movement, people shoot their mouths off and take part in / encourage others to take part in things without thinking it through properly - at the end of the day if the person in custody wants the custody desk hammering with phone calls or if people who are in the thick of it and know the person concerned do then thats a different matter but in this case it seems like some reactionary rant on indymedia rather than something which was thought through properly.

Learn from the oldschool - people who have been around years, made the same mistakes and have wised up to the best way to deal with these things and when someone speaks out and offers an alternative point of view and/or advice dont just brand them a "troll".

incidentally i recall incident at Southport Police Station which Lynn refers to, in that case the police couldn't wait to release the arrestee once they realised he came complete with a waiting room full of activists sleeping on the floor in sleeping bags!! not a bad memory for a "troll" eh?

the troll of troll hall

Thanks to Lynn and ???

13.10.2009 11:11

As one of those arrested, I am in total agreement with Lynn and ??? over using this as tactic without it being part of a group consensus, especially without involving the people on the ground who are trying to sort things out for prisoners. There are times, when this level, and more, are needed in terms of prisoner solidarity, but this was not one of them.

Furthermore, it also irresponsible to put details of arrests on people's facebook pages. Many activists have work colleagues, family, and non activist friends on facebook, and the consequences can be really serious. This was a fuck all arrest which will go nowhere, but posting the details of it caused a lot of worry for my family and friends, with my dad ringing the police station. However, it could have been worse, I could have lost my job over it.

There are a lot of experienced activists out there who are more than happy to help and pass on advice - we don't know everything by a long stretch of the imagination - and I know you were only trying to help. However, in future, it would be much better to at least listen to what people are saying without dismissing them as trolls.

One of those arrested