An important element of SLAF’s work is the confrontation of fascists on the streets. These tactics have certain risks associated with them. Our safety guidelines outline strategies that SLAF uses in order to minimise these risks. We will update it regularly as tactics and experiences grow.
General health & safety / being prepared
A demonstration can involve being outside in any weather for an entire day, often without the option to leave. Those who choose to organize in this way, and to participate in these actions should be prepared for this possibility.
Suggested guidelines
- Get a good night’s sleep before a demonstration and try to avoid heavy drinking etc.
- Wear comfortable clothes.
- Bring sunscreen, plenty of water, and pack food for the day.
- In winter make sure to bring something warm, as you may end up stuck for many hours at night.
- If you have any physical or mental health problems, including anxiety, PTSD, claustrophobia etc. make sure that other people who are present on the day are aware of these, and of the appropriate action to take if you start to feel unwell.
Affinity groups
Affinity groups are smaller groups of peers who take particular responsibility for each other during an action. These groups can be formed specifically for an event or can consist of people you know and have worked with over time.
Suggested guidelines
- Make sure to travel to and from the demonstration with a group.
- Try to form an affinity group for the day and make sure that you are familiar with each other’s particular vulnerabilities and that you have discussed what you feel comfortable doing on the day.
- If you don’t know anyone else coming to a demonstration, contact SLAF and we will make sure that you do not travel alone and put you in touch with a few people to travel with.
Avoiding arrest / conviction
It is not uncommon for activists to be arrested at Anti-Fascist demonstrations. 58 people were arrested at the BNP march in June 2013, many of whom were SLAF supporters. Some of our group were also arrested at the demonstration in Croydon in July.
While it is true that the occurrence of arrests on demonstrations is partly determined by factors outside of our control (e.g. the preordained plans of the police), there are concrete steps people can take to avoid being arrested and minimise the amount of information the police are able to collect on us and other activists.
Suggested guidelines
- Unless it is suggested otherwise in a callout, bring a face covering and wear clothing without obvious logos or insignia, so as not to be recognizable to the police. It is also worth bringing change of clothes a to switch into outside of the protest area to further reduce your visibility.
- Consult with your affinity group before the demonstration about whether you will come in black bloc attire.
- Make sure not to have any illegal substances on you on the day of a protest
- If possible, leave your smart phone at home, as police go through people’s phones if they are taken into a police station to gather intelligence and look for incriminating evidence against the person arrested.
- Have as little verbal interaction with the police as possible, including Liaison Officers.
- Consider fellow activists around you. While you may be comfortable getting arrested, the people next to you may not be and your actions might inadvertently put them at risk . As such, we recommend that you never unnecessarily risk your own arrest, or the arrest of others, through attention grabbing behaviour outside of the protest situation. In particular, do not draw attention to yourself and others by shouting slogans, masking up, waving placards etc. when outside of the immediate confrontation with fascists or the police.
- Consult with a broader group before deciding to travel to a new situation. Do not move-out without a bigger group, particularly to sites which are especially arrestable, i.e. central London.
Photography
Photographers claiming to be sympathetic to our actions have been taking photographs where the faces of anti-fascists are visible and then posting them on social media and pseudo news-sites such as Demotix. Anti-fascists have also been allowing themselves to be photographed, even encouraging photographers to take their pictures and then ‘tagging’ themselves on Facebook.
We resist photography at actions because:
- Fascists, including the EDL and the EVF are dangerous. We do not want them to know who we are.
Photographs of us end up on Redwatch and other fascist sites that publish images and contact details of various anti-fascist, anti-capitalist and ‘Marxist’ activists and sympathizers; actively encouraging violence, abuse and harassment.
Though, unfortunately, we do run the risk of being photographed by Fascist photographers, we obviously do not want to aid them in their identification of us. In particular, we need to avoid photographs taken in or near to kettles as these are much more likely to have our faces visible in them.
Allowing ourselves to be photographed and, worse, tagging photographs on Facebook puts us in particular danger from Fascists, who then have a considerable amount of information about the individual photographed to link to an image. Furthermore, this provides access to the information of others: the real names and details of Facebook friends, their friends etc. putting the individual and comrades in real danger.
- The police use photographs and video from protests to collect intelligence on protesters and as evidence in court. Even images and videos that are taken to show police violence, or live-streamed by sympathetic protesters, can and are used as evidence against us. Live–streaming is particularly dangerous here as it is impossible to know what is going to happen at a protest and thus what images of a volatile and easily-misread situation will end up being shared and used by the police.
When someone tags themselves in photographs at demonstrations, this aids the police in gathering information on who they are, and how regularly they might attend such demonstrations. If they are arrested and then still tag themselves in a photograph, they then assist the police in showing where they were, who they are, what they are wearing and exactly what they are doing at the time of an alleged crime, as well as implicating anyone who they are with at the time of the photograph.
Suggested guidelines
- Unless otherwise suggested, wear caps, sunglasses, masks etc. so that we are less recognizable in photographs taken by fascist photographers.
- Do not live stream anti-fascist actions, nor post images of others live.
- Discourage photographers from documenting anti-fascist actions and when photographers are present encourage them to focus on photographing fascists and police, police violence in particular and ask them not to use any photographs with visible faces of anti-fascists.
- Any photograph or video in which somebody is recognizable must have the permission of that person before it is posted publicly, even if it seems that this person is a victim of police or fascist violence.
- If you do want to distribute photos of an anti-fascist action, then we ask that you please obscure the faces of anti-fascists and anyone who is being arrested.
- Make sure that no photographers are photographing your face. If they are, ask the group to help you to encourage the photographer to stop.
- Do not tag yourself in photographs from demonstrations on Facebook or associate yourself with these images on other social media