2009-12-15

Why co-operate with Copenhagen cops?

I joined the march as a police observer, my aim being to monitor events and compare how the Danish police treated protesters. I was near the back of the march. There was a large contingent of people wearing black hoodies, some anarchist flags were waving, but where I was, there was no trouble. The atmosphere was good, and my friend and I commented on how lovely it was to see so few police officers on such a large demo.

The change came suddenly – I saw some people running forward, and in the time it took to turn round to see why they were running, the police had used the grid system of the roads to kettle the march into several sections by driving vans through it, and deploying riot police to stop anyone leaving. The kettle was tight, and it was an effort to walk from one side to another. The mixture of people ranged from parents with children, Hare Krishnas, socialists and anarchists. All had one thing in common – they had done nothing other than join a demonstration.

We tried to leave the kettle through an open apartment block. However, this led only to another road full of handcuffed people sat in lines. As soon as the police saw us watching this scene, we were also grabbed, thrown to the floor and arrested. We later learned that all the people in the kettles were also arrested.

My experience differed from many of the others arrested because I refused to sit still and join the lines of people waiting to be put on buses – I could not bring myself to co-operate with a humiliating, degrading procedure. It wasn’t pleasant and I ended up with a few bumps and bruises and a punch to the face, but it was far more empowering than waiting for hours compliantly, and I felt much stronger because of this resistance.

Mass repression requires mass resistance and we have to be able to say no when dealing with large policing operations such as this. Many people understandably looked terrified, and for a large number, it was the first time they had been arrested. However, arrests on this scale required co-operation from arrestees – people were not actually physically forced to sit in lines, they could have moved. Where we were, detainees vastly outnumbered the police, and they would not have been able to handle large numbers of people being incompliant, and there certainly would not have been the resources to arrest so many people.

Spirits in the steel holding cages were high and resistance was in the air. Some broke down the doors of their cages, and the large warehouse echoed to caterwauling and chants of “No justice, no peace! Fuck the police!” The police nearly lost control of the situation, being forced to send in riot police and dogs, and it showed what could have been possible if more had resisted.

Unfortunately, we are too often the agents of our own repression. The culture of obedience and fear of reprisals is often too much for people to challenge. However, the rewards and sense of empowerment that come from refusing to co-operate far outweigh any consequences.

The Danish strategy of preventative arrests was rushed through at the last minute, and was almost certainly illegal. Given the fuss that has been made over kettling in the UK and the recent HMIC report on protest policing, it is very unlikely we will see such tactics on our streets, but this doesn’t mean there won’t be further repressive policing operations, and where necessary we must be ready to resist and challenge such actions.

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cif-green/2009/dec/15/copenhagen-protests-resisting-compliant-urge