towerhamletsalarm

This Blog has been dead for a while, a few days after the EDL failed in their attempt at Tower Hamlets we had an ALARM review, from that we decided to pack it in as Tower Hamlets ALARM, a lot of us still live round here and will still be active round here. But Augusts’ days of furry have shown us that we need to be focusing at more that one area. A death in Tottenham leads to fires in Salford, a pushy copper in Hackney leads to arson in Croydon. Resistance is bigger than borough divides; the fight against these shits is bigger than what’s going on in just our backyard. Police will murder in any borough, rich will steal in any part of London, people will lash out anywhere.

We still have a lot of respect for radical community organising but right now were going to focus in other places.
When we do our local politics we will do it in the action groups/ community groups already going.
Otherwise, for now, Tower Hamlets ALARM is off and were just ALARM.

ETA: From now on stuff will go up on the ALARM website.

taken from http://rmtlondoncalling.org.uk/node/2374

The RMT intervened to halt the Metropolitan Police’s plans to run special trains for English Defence League (EDL) members. The EDL had planned to march through Tower Hamlets, an area with a high Asian population and the Metropolitan Police wanted to assist the EDL to their destination by asking LUL management to run special non-stop trains for them.

This plan was swiftly halted after RMT station staff and train drivers, with the support of the London Regional Organiser declared that they would refuse to work for the duration if they felt that there was an imminent and serious risk of danger.

Although LU management was against the plan, a chaotic and possibly dangerous situation still arose on the day of the protest as EDL members arrived at tube stations.

At Kings Cross station paying passengers were held in the ticket office whilst groups of EDL members were given priority onto waiting trains – all this whilst fire alarms were sounding, believed to have been set of by EDL members.

Liverpool Street Station also bore the brunt. Only the Central line was operating and further congestion was caused by a reduced escalator service and surrounding roads being closed due to the large group of EDL members massing outside the station. The RMT has seen tweets from customers claiming to have witnessed EDL members being permitted through the gateline by police whilst drinking and smoking and wondering why this was allowed.

Meanwhile Mile End station closed for an hour in the evening as a coach load of EDL supporters were permitted along Whitechapel road – even being able to stop and hurl abuse outside the Whitechapel mosque.

The RMT’s political officer has written an open letter to Mike Brown the Managing Director of London Underground asking him to hold a meeting to discuss the numerous safety issues that have arisen and to apologise to staff and passengers for the events that took place on the tube.

The RMT also wishes to know how the Metropolitan Police will be held accountable for their role in the matter as it was primarily them who escorted the EDL through the underground system.

The RMT has a history of taking a stand against racist and fascist organisations – some recent examples can be found here. Many RMT members were also present in Tower Hamlets amongst the thousands who amassed to prevent the EDL’s access to the area where they wanted to march.

RMT Political Officers Letter To LU MD Mike Brown

The English Defence League (EDL) is a racist/fascist organisation with well known links to the BNP. The fascist gunman Anders Behring Breivik, who carried out the massacre in Norway, expressed his particular admiration for the EDL. On Saturday 3 September, the EDL held an anti-Islamdemonstration at Aldgate. EDL leader Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) appeared at the demonstration dressed as a Rabbi, breaking his bail conditions for a previous violent offence. This is a reprehensible organisation which is why it is an absolute disgrace that EDL members joining the demonstration were given safe passage through London Underground.

EDL: They shall not pass!
As you are aware, under Police (Met) pressure, plans were drawn up to give the EDL safe passage through specially laid on trains from Hainault depot running non-stop through to Liverpool Street. These plans were dropped on account of opposition from RMT members. As the EDL admitted themselves in a news release on Thursday 1 September: “Until very recently, we had agreed with the police that the muster point before the demonstration would be Hainault underground station. We would then have taken the tube to Liverpool Street, and from there we would have walked to Tower Hamlets. What no one thought to consider was the possibility that the RMT might get wind our plans and threaten to close stations by calling on their members to go on strike… the threat has been enough for the police to cave in to the pressure and abandon the previous plan…”

Responsibility
I am fully aware, and both acknowledge and accept, that personally, you have no time whatsoever for the EDL. This is not in doubt. However, as Managing Director, you are responsible for your management team and any decisions made, in collaboration with the Police (Met and BTP), in permitting this bunch of drunken, violent, racist, fascist thugs through our system. As Managing Director, you have a duty of care to your employees and passengers. You also have a duty to ensure a safe working environment. It is unacceptable that staff and passengers had to withdraw to places of safety for an event that was foreseen, indeed an organised and police escorted event, prioritising the transport of racist thugs. You wrote to me on Friday 2 September and explained: “Let me again make it clear that LU is not and will not support the movement of this group of people”.

Safe passage
The very next day, the EDL were permitted safe passage through LUL via King’s Cross through to Moorgate and LUL managers did provide (supplementary to the Police) “support” for “the movement of this group of people”. Tony Gandolfi was on-site at King’s Cross as RMT’s Safety Representative. He will be providing a full and detailed Safety Report on events. Suffice to say, while King’s Cross was in evacuation mode, alarms continually sounding, the Police, with the aid of local managers, permitted the EDL access through to Platform level and onto the Northern Line. On-looking were paying customers who were told to remain in the booking hall area and wait. A number of call points were operated at King’s Cross at 13.19hrs (almost certainly by EDL members) and the station was closed until 14.00hrs. Meanwhile, Moorgate station was kept open (with staff located in places of safety) to allow them to egress to street level through Finsbury Circus and on to Aldgate. The decisions supporting “the movement of this group of people” could only have come from the top. The critical decision was permitting “this group of people” access to the system.

Trouble… Inevitable really!
You will be aware that trouble sparked at Liverpool Street where bystanders were abused, a journalist was burnt as the EDL threatened to set him alight and there was continual racist and anti-muslim chanting. Again, later at Mile End the station was closed (from 19.07hrs – 20.07hrs) on account of an incident outside the station. This incident was caused when the Police allowed an EDL coach along Whitechapel Road. EDL members stopped outside the mosque and hurled abuse. Rightly, they were met with local resistance and they quickly boarded and moved on. Unfortunately for them, their coach broke down just before Mile End and the inevitable reaction ensued. It has to be said, the Police decision to allow an EDL coach along the Whitechapel/Mile End road was scandalous given it was clearly intended to be a deliberate provocation.

LUL Image tarnished
No one expects LUL to organise it’s staff to protest against the EDL – the RMT is more than willing and able to do that. What we certainly do not expect is for LUL to play an active role in facilitating and co-ordinating transport for “this group of people”. With the Olympics fast approaching and the multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-faith image of LUL as an organisation now tarnished, action must be taken to remedy the situation. To borrow from a Woody Guthrie lyric, the EDL walked across our cameras and you flashed LUL’s tarnished reputation to the world.

Immediate recommendations
1) A letter of apology to all staff , Asian, Black and White and passengers for the events on Saturday 3 September
2) An urgent meeting with the unions addressing safety issues including the fact that NO consultation took place at any level nor were any briefings offered to staff.
3) An urgent meeting with the unions explaining exactly how the Police are made accountable in such circumstances. It was primarily the Met Police that insisted on escorting the EDL, as they have across the country, with a flagrant disregard for staff and public safety. On what basis were the Police able to totally disregard TFL Railway Bye-laws.

One senior manager has told me that he didn’t see any need to consult us to address our safety concerns. Furthermore, he believed “the EDL aren’t the problem, it’s the anti-EDL protesters, they’re the ones who’ll do the provoking”. Is this is the prevailing attitude on the senior management team – and the reason for this disgraceful series of events? Unjum Mirza, Political Officer, London Transport Region RMT

Throughout most of the day there was little of interest.
People were gathering from 11 .30 with UAF, but it wasn’t till 3 o’clock that real groups began to gather around Aldgate East. After hours of waiting the EDL were being moved from the destinations across London to Aldgate.
The EDL have not been able to enter Tower Hamlets. At 3 they were in a police kettle at Aldgate, around 10 yards from the start of the borough, but for them it might as well be a hundred miles. The Ten yards between them and Tower Hamlets was controlled by an army of police, and after them there was a mob of locals and antifascists. Groups of women on pedal Bikes were seen on their side of the kettle ramming their bikes at the EDL muppets, all they could do was cry to the police how unfair it all was.
The police were locking down the area. It was hard to walk a street without being searched under section 60, But after “Tommy” was nicked and the EDL started to shuffle away from the City of London action began to ignite. A crew of Antifascists and local youth teamed up in Wapping, heading down to see the EDL off.
Then a flash point at the end of the day. Despite the EDL running home without entering Tower Hamlets one coach felt a little bold. It drove through Whitechapel with the mugs inside shouting out to piss off the locals as they drove through.
Groups caught up with the slowly moving coach and at Mile End it came under attack. The police rushed to their aid, stuck them in vans and carried them home, but could not prevent the coach getting well and truly smashed. Their coach driver was last seen fleeing the area.

The EDL have been planning the “liberation” of Tower Hamlets since December. And they couldn’t even get here…HA !

We would also like to say a massive thank you to the many people that gave up their time, travelled across the country and joined us today. Thank you for the solidarity, we can’t wait to return it.

The EDL are having a right run around, after rumours from the RMT the EDL have changed their meeting point to Euston, only to have half the pubs already announce that they won’t be open for the EDL to meet in.
We welcome rumours that the RMT will close stations if they EDL start playing up when gathering, but were unsure how reliable this is. If they RMT did close stations and basically have a wild cat strike against the EDL tomorrow this would be amazing solidarity, but this should not be relied upon to keep the EDL out of Tower Hamlets. They could still show at Liverpool Street.
The problems the EDL are facing in organising how to move towards our area is great as it shows how unwelcome they really are in all parts of London, but we still need to be in the area and on the streets tomorrow. Who knows what the EDL have planned, a flash mob, a surge from Liverpool Street, several groups making a move on one area? Not to mention the various “patriotic” splinter groups that tag along with the EDL who might not be happy following the poorly organised leaders, or co-operating with the police.
But positive moves are being made.
For the first time in living history the UAF are doing something useful. For months we have been distributing thousands of leaflets asking for people to be on the streets on the 3rd of September, finally other groups have caught on and the UAF are no longer running off to Weavers Field but will be joining us on the streets. They are calling for people to meet on Whitechapel and Vallance Road Junction from 11.30 am. Not a bad idea, it’s a shame that they only announced it yesterday.
Though we disagree with the politics of the UAF we are pleased they have finally seen sense and are now committing to be in the right part of Tower hamlets.
We can only hope the EDL see sense and follow our advice and stay out of the area as well.
And as for their threats to return to Tower Hamlets on the 22nd of October, all we can say is you have to of been here once to say that you will “return”

I’ve had two people disagree with me when handing out FUK EDL leaflets asking for people to come and stop the EDL. Neither of them said anything but they stopped and stared with pure fucking hatred. They didn’t come up and say anything .They knew that if they went and declared to a “fellow” white Englishman their views then in minute’s local youth would have organised themselves and they would have to run out of the area.
When they can’t sprout their crap on the streets they do it online instead. Here is what they EDL have been saying on our Blog. This is just a very small amount of the racist shit they post here.
(sorry for the shit views, these are not our words but the EDLs followers)

Submitted on 2011/08/31 at 6:41 am from Fuckoffhome@nopakis.co.uk
Fuck off home we all hate u fucking terrorists. U shouldn’t try to change our country them we might of let u stay, civil war soon

Submitted on 2011/08/31 at 2:37 pm from jimsnead@rocketmail.com
Can’t you lot see the big picture here ? Whether the EDL win or loose the battle however you define that they win by drawing massive public attention to the Islamic shit hole of Tower Hamlets and the problem of scrounging Islamic immigrants. Islamohatred is growing rapidly in the UK and Europe
Submitted on 2011/08/31 at 6:38 am from ILOVEEDL
The more u push us the closer u will get to forcing us into civil war and then u will lose why can’t u be like the chinese and keep yourself to yourself. There’s a lot of do holders in the uk but believe me most of us really hate u and wish you’d fuck off home and murder your own people not us
Submitted on 2011/08/31 at 12:51 am From scousehammer@twitter.example.com
Yer dirty Muslim bastards, I’ll be there sober lets see if you dare face us angry English lions.
Submitted on 2011/08/30 at 11:10 pm From ddced@hotmail.com
sweden are coming ns

Submitted on 2011/08/31 at 4:43 pm from Biff
Standing with the UAF helping the invasion of fascist Islam ? LOL Sounds like the Vichy in WW2

Submitted on 2011/08/30 at 9:38 pm from peterwdawson@live.co.uk
ur shitting it u muslim cunts and u want to be because were coming. and no fuckers are going to stop us……edl coventry division

Submitted on 2011/08/30 at 9:15 pm from steve
The foreigners don’t see what is coming , a Dog born in a stable isn’t a Horse ,
The Nazi’s tried our patience – what happened to them ???
The English will wipe the filth from OUR country
It’s happened before – it will happen again
UAF – MDL – ANL – you will all fail
E.D.L.NEVER SURRENDER …
DC19

Submitted on 2011/08/30 at 8:48 pm from simonmsmith@hotmail.co.uk
how are we traitors were sticking up for OUR country not wanting foreigners to take over, muslims preaching their hatred on our streets trying to threaten our community’s with their noncing and in-bread antics. if people like em that much fuck off an live in there country

Submitted on 2011/08/30 at 8:45 pm from upklynx@gmail.com
Bet a fukin scummy Muslim did this! E E EDL!!! E E EDL!!!

Submitted on 2011/08/10 at 6:49 pm from djdd42@yahoo.co.uk
make are day you filthy scum we will march threw you shit hole its our country now fuck of back to your slums edl future of Briton

Submitted on 2011/08/09 at 10:41 am from hulululululul@msn.com
paki cunts

this Saturday stop the EDL

The EDL have been banned from marching in Tower Hamlets (as well as a few other boroughs). The EDL will be in Tower Hamlets on the 3rd of September. A static picket will be held in the borough, one that they will have to march towards.
Despite overpaid officials and the Met trying to keep the EDL out of the area they have failed. We say good. We don’t want the state to decide who can and who can’t march. Sure we don’t want the EDL here, but their politics will be judged by the community they march through rather than community leaders.
We have distributed thousands and thousands of leaflets across our borough, through Hackney and at Notting Hill carnival saying “whether its a flash mob, marching mob or static picket they will be confronted” Every person we’ve given a leaflet and spoken to has agreed. The EDL will not pass, they will be stopped.
We do not welcome the chaos that we will see on Saturday the 3rd when a community rises up with anyone that gives a damn and sends the EDL out of town. We do not welcome the inevitable arrests of our youth and hospitalizations from police batons and flying bricks that will be seen in Tower Hamlets on the 3rd.
We see that this will be the work of the EDL. They’re the ones coming to “liberate” us. They’re the ones that want this chaos. If the EDL really gave a fuck about law and order they would chicken out of their attack on Tower Hamlets now.
But they won’t. So we call on every person available to head to the Whitechapel area this Saturday, bring a Palestine scarf to protect your identity, stay mobile and be safe.

Hot on the heels of their last victory, cleaners in the radical IWW union are calling for a demo to demand better conditions, union recognition and just some basic respect in the workplace. The demo will take place at City Guildhall, Gresham Street EC2V 7HH, this Thursday 25th August, 2pm-5pm. Make sure you get down to support growing rank-and-file militancy.

In other news, construction workers fed up with the beureacrats of the UNITE union, have taken it upon themselves to organise autonomously against the worsening of their working conditions. Today saw a mass demo of electricians at a Balfour Beatty site at Blackfriars, who are one of 8 major construction companies looking to cut electiricians wages by up to 35% (amongst other things). This action was the product of a mass meeting of 400 electricians, who plan to roll out action accross the city. More news on these struggles soon.