bike bloc
July 26, 2010 - 3:51pm
ring ring!
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Syndicate
"More bikes, less oil!"
An inspiring demonstration:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBfZ7rNP_5A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KXIkTHxXeE&feature=related
An intersection, Queen and Spadina:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RK18i29t_0
(Featuring a videographer who says "Bicycle cops rule" and "It's nice to see a peaceful demonstration in Toronto, not getting overrun by anarchists." He knows which cyclists are anarchists?)
The critical mass merged with these folks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9woCyfZd6gg
Resulting in a kettle, as seen from inside a coffee cup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OPhdscNJLs
One peaceful action, before, during and after. One police action, with only the police and those who boss them around to blame.
hey hey
ho ho
the old forms of protest
may have to go
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZtUTk6Iz2E
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iJUiPBtdgs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEDkNxFhwJM
Hmmm, familiar! http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/video/2009/dec/17/copenhagen-clima...
A hop, skip and jump away from the Bella Center, we joined up with a few other Bike Bloc stragglers and anxiously waited for the hundreds of cyclists on their way. As we rode around the bloc(k), nearly a mile away from the Bella Center, Danish police were eyeing us. They knew why we were there. As part of the new laws Copenhagen passed prior to COP15, under the new Police Act, police could arrest anyone “suspicious-looking” in their judgement with no evidence, for up to 12 hours. Unbelievable. Suddenly, the ten or so cyclists and I became a target for police deemed suspicious activity. Our homemade signs reading “There is No Planet B” and DIY clothes were dead giveaways.
Slowly but surely, Police vehicles began following our tracks of two wheeled solidarity. The group tried to maneuver away from the police hotspot, but the police had already made their decision. Sadly, we weren’t going to meet up with the larger critical mass. Soon, from all directions, vehicles honed in on our small group of cyclists. It was only a matter of time before we were trapped.
Bikes confiscated, cold bottoms from sitting on the snowy cement, wrists tethered behind our backs with Ziploc ties (they must’ve ran out of handcuffs), we sat calmly in the now blistering blizzard. My heart pounded even though I knew I had done nothing wrong. I was less scared than anxious to experience climate justice ground zero. Finally when a woman police officer arrived at the scene, I was thoroughly patted down and searched. I was speechless when she pulled out my Bella Center pass from my inner most shirt. I thought I had hidden that well, apparently not. I became worrisome about getting my delegation in trouble. I felt sick to my stomach. Later while being detained in my activist holding cell, I learned that hundreds of NGO delegates had also taken part in the People’s Assembly and were now detained, their Bella Center badges temporarily taken away. Serves UNFCCC organizers right, of course NGO delegates would transition to outside actions since their rights as public observers had been shamelessly taken away.
http://sscinternational.org/2010/01/20/bike-bloc-action-and-meeting-the-...
What would be very cool would be a timeline and a google map outlining the course of all the G20 actions over the weekend. In particular one that looks at the method of police operations.
That would be cool. A very useful thing to study. Cueball, did you see my link to a Youtube user who was sending dispatches from College and University in real time on the Saturday?
More from Copenhagen, 2009:
Copenhagen also saw the first mass deployment of the “bike bloc”: mounted affinity groups (friends or like-minded activists looking out for each other) able to mobilise quickly where needed, to distract police and take direct action. Bike bloc training was the most interesting workshop I attended, and the bloc was very effective at Reclaim Power: at crucial moments, many flung their bikes under police vans. These had to be removed manually not to damage the chassis which slowed the police down considerably. Hopefully bike blocs will spread far and wide.
http://manchestermule.com/article/dispatches-from-copenhagen-ii-being-a-...
From what I can understand, they came up with a design for 30 bikes that interlocked around the "blue bloc" group of protesters, protecting them from police action. I believe it was called "The Machine" though I could be mixing this up.
Don't find this very well written, but in an effort to pull together information about incorporating bikes into a movement, I will add it:
Bikes counter spin
As the gaggle of riders converged on the detention centre on Eastern to show solidarity with those inside, activist Ruth Madoc Jones summed up the mood pretty well. It was, she said, “such a sweet feeling!”
I don't know, I don't find this very inspiring.
this is what a friend of mine who was in the ride had to say about it:
"
I did not witness the beginning of the incident which occurred during the June 27 critical mass bike ride, but I spoke to several witnesses who did. (Three of them shared names and contact information with me, and I can provide that information should you wish to contact them directly.) Their accounts of the incident are as follows.As the group of cyclists was passing by 148 Cumberland Street, one of the cyclists was singled out by the police. He was descended upon by several bicycle police officers. He was forced or somehow removed from his bicycle. He was then held by his arms by two officers, one on each side as a third officer then punched him in the face. The cyclist was then pushed to the ground, where he was held face down. Several officers (the witnesses were not sure how many, but thought it was 4-6) then repeatedly punched the cyclist in the legs. When the cyclist was stood up, he was punched in the genitals by one of the officers. He was then quickly removed to inside the parking garage at 148 Cumberland Street where he was kept out of sight until shortly before his removal.
What I personally witnessed is as follows. I saw the cyclist later on, when he was brought near the front of the garage to await removal in a police vehicle. He had blood below his nostrils, on each side of his nose. He had blood under his chin and it looked like he had a cut or gash there. I asked him if he was okay, and he replied “no”. I asked him if he needed medical help, and he said “yes”. He then told me his name and spelled it for me. (I was not able to fully understand or remember what he told me and only later learned his full name from a lawyer who contacted me.) When I asked him to repeat himself, an officer yelled at me to stop talking to the cyclist. Shortly after, I repeated his name aloud (as I remembered it), at which point the officer came over to me and very angrily and threateningly told me that I was to keep quiet and to leave the scene or I would be arrested for obstructing the police. I moved a couple of feet away and soon after, a different police officer came and took down my information and called it into headquarters to have me checked up on. My bag was searched and then I was free to leave.
I do not know why the cyclist was arrested by the police and none of the witnesses knew either. They did not witness any altercation preceding the arrest. One of them said it seemed that something was yelled at the cyclist by one of the police officers, at which point the cyclist veered off to the side from his original direction of travel. It was after this that he was surrounded by and descended upon by several officers. I asked the witnesses if the cyclist seemed to resist arrest. They said no. One of them said that the cyclist “did not seem happy” and that although he was not compliant, neither did he resist. He was saying something to the police but not offering any physical resistance.
All of the witnesses I spoke to, of which there were six or seven, said that the force used was very excessive and far beyond what the situation called for. People all around who could see the incident were yelling at the police to stop. Some of the witnesses were very upset and even sickened by the violence that they witnessed. They all said that the group bike ride itself seemed peaceful, with many of the cyclists calling out “peaceful protest” as they were riding down Cumberland Street. Two or three of the witnesses said that a couple of the officers who formed the blockade in front of the parking garage displayed a very high level of rage and seemed very antagonistic towards the group of cyclists in front of them. One of the officers held his bike over his head and waved it menacingly towards the people in front of him. Four or five of the officers held their bicycles up on the back wheels and pushed the front wheels into the group of cyclists to push them away."
I don't think it did much for the moral of my friend.
That is a terrible story. But when is police violence inspiring? What should we do in the face of it? What does this mean in the context of car culture?
What could help your friend after such a traumatic witnessing?