UK Indymedia - Sheffield

Police Raids on Occupy Squats

As UK occupations squat more buildings the police, many of whom have criminal records, are flouting the law to harass protesters, the Lords are debating making squatting residential buildings illegal, the government plans to make hundreds of thousands homeless and Occupy LSX is threatened with eviction.

On 8th January 2012 40-50 police officers raided the Railton Hotel, next to the train station in Lancaster, which had been squatted by Occupy Lancaster the day before. At approximately 8.15 pm, the police used a battering ram to break through the front door. Once they had gained entry, the police arrested the four occupants who were inside at the time. The Occupiers secured the building legally, and displayed notices of Section 6 of the Criminal Law Act 1977 on the exterior of the building, but the police paid no heed to the law and Occupy Lancaster are now seeking legal advice.

Also on 8th January undercover police arrested 3 occupiers at Occupy Liverpool on suspicion of possession; none were found to be in possession of "controlled substances". Twenty or so police then surrounded the occupied building stating that it was a crime scene and laid siege to it for 3 hours. Like Occupy Lancaster a Section 6 notice was displayed but the police acted as as if squatting was already illegal.

Later this month Occupy Sheffield will be hosting a national occupy conference in the squatted Citadel of Hope.

Newswire: Eviction - Press Release: 9/1/12 from Occupy Lancaster! | Legal help required | Police Harass Occupy Liverpool at Legal Squat | Police raid on Occupy Lancaster | Occupy Sheffield Statement on the occupation of the Citadel Of Hope | Salvation Army Citadel Occupied and renamed Citadel Of Hope

Links: Occupy Lancaster | Occupy Liverpool | Occupy Sheffield | Occupy LSX | Squatters' Action for Secure Homes

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Sheffield Occupied!

IMC Sheffield | 05-11-2011 22:07 | Occupy Everywhere | Sheffield

On 5th November a Occupy Sheffield camp was established outside Sheffield Cathedral (map). After discussing where to camp at a meeting on the steps of the City Hall it was agreed to set up camp at the Cathedral. Posters and flyers you can print, to spread the word, have been produced by the Sheffield Equality Group.

Following on from the start of Occupy Wall Street on 17th September 2011 there is now a global occupation movement and a growing number of occupations in the UK.

Occupy Sheffield has a web site, a StatusNet account, a Twitter account, a presence on Facebook, an email list and a wiki with a Wishlist for the camp.

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Sheffield Free School 2011

IMC Sheffield | 14-10-2011 13:56 | Education | Free Spaces | Sheffield

UPDATE: Audio recordings of 3 workshops and the plenary are available.

All welcome to this year's Sheffield Free School event, on Saturday 15th October 2011, from 10am till 8pm, at CADS (Creative Arts Development Space) Snow Lane Entrance, Shalesmoor, S3 7AL (5 mins from city centre, next to "Kit Locker").

This is a Free School NOT of the type created under the present government, but in the long tradition of autonomous self-organised activities. It's being run by the Sheffield Social Centre project, which aims to establish a permanent space for non-hierarchical, anti-capitalist and non-discriminatory activity in Sheffield.

People in Sheffield are coming together to resist the tide of consumer capitalism, exploitation and crisis, creating a space for the free sharing of skills, ideas and knowledge. Come along to the Sheffield Free School ? maybe even to share a skill of your own.

The day's line up includes a whole list of workshops, practical activities, food, film, stalls, fun and friendly stuff.

Following that, everyone's welcome to the evening benefit gig (£4, £3 concessions) at the nearby Redhouse Pub, 168 Solly Street S1 4BB.

Full details of the day, including flyers to download and pre-event preparation meetings, can be found on the Sheffield Social Centre website and on the Free School event Facebook page

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Occupy! Manchester - 2nd October Tory Party Conference

After the ‘March for the Alternative’ in London on March 26th, thousands of people joined the TUC ‘Birmingham for the Alternative’ march on the Lib Dem conference on Sunday September 18th. There was a wide range of trade union participation, especially from public sector unions who recently announced a new wave of national strikes for November 30th. Student activists were also present, with a banner drop by the National Campaign against Fees and Cuts reminding conference delegates of Nick Clegg’s broken promises of opposing rises in tuition fees.

Plans for a third TUC demonstration, the Manchester ‘March for the Alternative’, are underway for the first day of the Conservative Party conference on October 2nd. Tens of thousands are expected to march past the conference centre and the ‘ring of steel’ around it, protesting against an agenda of cuts and austerity for the benefit of the rich. A coalition of anarchists, socialists, trade union activists, student unions and democracy campaigners, dubbed Occupy! Manchester, are also calling for an occupation of Albert Square, outside Manchester Town Hall, to create an assembly of protest on the doorstep of the Tory’s conference, and a place for real debate and discussion about the alternatives.

Plans for occupations and assemblies in Britain have been inspired by the large and vibrant student protests that took place last winter and by the popular demonstrations elsewhere. In New York, people’s assemblies were held on Wall Street on September 17th, the occupation there is on-going with a 24 hour camp in Liberty Plaza. a ‘March to Brussels’ has so far reached Paris. In London, another national student demonstration has been called for November 9th.

Links: Occupy Wall Street | Occupy Manchester | Occupy Glasgow

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Support the Antifascist Prisoners

In a miscarriage of justice reminiscent of the Ratcliffe case, six antifascist are currently being held in Wormwood Scrubs and one is on bail after being found guilty of "conspiracy to commit violent disorder". The first trial, of 11 of the 22 activists facing this absurd charge, ended on 28th June 2011 with four people being acquitted, four sentenced immediately to 21 months in jail, two others sent to prison awaiting sentencing, and the other released on bail pending sentence. A second trial of the 11 other activists is threatened to start on 12th September 2011.

The incident that led to police raids across the country and 23 arrests occurred on 28th March 2009 when a number of antifascist activists travelled to Welling in south-east London to protest against a neo-Nazi "Blood and Honour" skinhead gig at the Duchess of Edinburgh Pub. No fascists have been arrested or charged or have even appeared as witnesses in the court case and in the absence of any evidence forthcoming from the fascists the Police and Crown Prosecution Service spent a vast amount of time and resources to press charges which are tantamount to a thought crime and if widely applied would in effect make it illegal to organise protests against fascist events. The use of "conspiracy" charges against large groups of activists — charging them for things that might have thought about rather than charging them for anything they have actually done is clearly being done to suit a political agenda which involves the draconian repression of progressive activists, no doubt intended as a "deterrent" to others. While at the same time real corporate criminal conspiracies are covered up and swept under the carpet, contrast the treatment of the activists with the kid-glove treatment by the state of the Murdoch media crime family, as the collusion between powerful media, corrupt police and the political establishment is further exposed.

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Sheffield J30 Strike

On June 30th thousands of strikers and their supporters gathered in Sheffield for a protest against the governments cuts to public sector pensions and public sector cuts in general. following a rally in Barkers Pool there was a short march down the Moor and back up to Division Street and back to Barkers Pool for a second rally.

Earlier in the day there was a Sheffield Uncut action and there is a Uncut - 'Teach In' planned for Saturday 2nd July, 12pm, City Hall steps.

Newswire: Sheffield Rally at start of March | Sheffield March Against Cuts | Sheffield Rally at the end of the March | Public sector strike hits across Britain | More rally pics

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#J30 March Together, Strike Together!

On June 30th over 800,000 public sector workers will be on strike against attacks on their pensions. This is a key fight for everyone who wants to defend public services and oppose cuts to pensions, benefits services and our communities. Strikers and anti-cuts campaigners from across South Yorkshire will be marching through Sheffield, please join them.

Thu 30 Jun 2011, 12 noon assemble at Peace Gardens; 1pm rally Barkers Pool, organised by Sheffield Anti-Cuts Alliance, supported by Sheffield Trades Council.

Other protests listed on j30strike.org are, a student march around the pickets, meet on Howard Street (Sheffield Hallam Uni main entrance) at 9am and Sheffield Uncut action, meet at tram stop outside the Cathedral at 10am.

Newswire: J30: Building up for the next “big one”? | J30 List of UK Protests | Sheffield Trades Council March and Rally Tomorrow

Links: sheffieldanticuts.wordpress.com | www.ukuncut.org.uk | www.j30strike.org

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New Email Lists and Wiki for UK Indymedia

UK Indymedia Features | 08-06-2011 20:25 | Indymedia | Sheffield

Two of the key tools that Indymedia activists use for communication and collaboration are email lists and wiki pages. UK Indymedia activists have made extensive use of lists hosted by the global Indymedia list server and of the global Indymedia wiki over the last decade. But at the end of May 2011 key lists were shutdown without agreement and wiki accounts deleted.

In response to this situation, new email lists have been set up for people who wish to contact the site admins or to be involved in discussions about features and moderation. There is also a new wiki site for UK Indymedia related documents. In addition there is now a new Users list for users of this site to raise matters which are not covered by the Moderation, Features or Tech lists.

Links: lists.indymedia.org.uk | wiki.indymedia.org.uk

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Activist Films at Sheffield Doc/fest

In the past Sheffield Indymedia has hosted its own fringe documentary film festival alongside the international annual event hosted at the Showroom Cinema, this year Access Space are hosting Open Splice: an afternoon of short open source documentaries on Friday 10th. Although we don't have the time and energy for our own screenings this this year the main event has a number of great looking films of interest to activists, including the première of the new British Film about climate change related direct action, Just Do It and the UK première of If a Tree Falls about the Earth Liberation Front.

Links: Sheffield Doc/Fest | Just Do It | If a Tree Falls

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Sheffield Anarchist Bookfair 2011

Sheffield Anarchist Bookfair | 27-05-2011 22:11 | Culture | Sheffield

Saturday May 21st saw the return of the Sheffield Anarchist Bookfair, now in its second year. This year it attracted over 250 people and throughout the day it had a good crowd of people attending meetings, watching films, hanging out in the cafe space and checking out a good range of groups and stalls. The venue was certainly an improvement on last year (we had day light and windows for a start!) and was decorated with loads of different banners, flags and posters brought by various groups on the day.

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Sheffield Indymedia

Police Raids on Occupy Squats

Sheffield Occupied!

Sheffield Free School 2011

Occupy! Manchester - 2nd October Tory Party Conference

Support the Antifascist Prisoners

Sheffield J30 Strike

#J30 March Together, Strike Together!

New Email Lists and Wiki for UK Indymedia

Activist Films at Sheffield Doc/fest

Sheffield Anarchist Bookfair 2011

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