The anti-austerity march on June 20th saw a bloc of 150+ anarchists marching together in London – more than we’ve had in a while. (not sure what a bloc is? See note at the end of this article…) Big flags meant that people could find each other, and the masks handed out by NetPol meant that almost everyone had their face covered. Sadly, the actual action that happened was a bit shit. The bloc started off as part of the main march, with NO uniformed police in sight. Flares and smoke bombs were let off. But even though it walked past plenty of obvious targets, there was only minor damage caused. Although the flags and banners meant that the bloc kept together a lot better than normal, people were still often spread out and in danger of getting separated completely. Then came the breakaway – people were led away from the centre of London, and on a long walk south of the river. This was tiring but didn’t lead to any actions. Not only was there less obviously worth doing, the bloc also picked up a big following of riot vans and police. After what felt like a long and pointless walk, the bloc ended up back at the speeches of the main march. (apparently the target in South London was a property developer, which people spray-painted then left really fast when police moved in)
While it was a good show of force, and better than just walking from A to B, there was SO much we could have done better! This article has three ideas on that… Continue reading