The anarchist organisers of this years “Climate Camp” – where serious issues are work-shopped by people it’s hard to take seriously – were very clear that the police (or to use the technical term, ‘The Man’) were not welcome on the campsite they’d commandeered in Blackheath.
According to a report in The Evening Standard:
Protesters have barred police from their Climate Camp site at Blackheath.
The activists, who say they take all decisions by consensus, have decided not to allow police to conduct what they term “community liaison” with the camp.
But now something has upset this elegant state of grace. Someone has had their laptop stolen. By “stolen”, I mean of course “removed to an alternative location without consultation, notice or prior consent and/or community consensus” and not the Capitalist definition of “hey, I paid a lot for that, you can’t just fucking nick it!”.
Nevertheless, the police were called.
A story on Indymedia has the details.
At just after 6pm tonight the police were called to the camp following a robbery.
In an amazing about turn the police that were kept off the site for the past two days were invited onto the Climate Camp today after the theft of a laptop was discovered. Statements were taken and the police were then escorted off the site by members of the legal team.
I’m not sure how to feel about this.
Well, may I helpfully suggest the following:
Communities should solve their own crimes. They can form like an ‘anti-crime commitee’ with powers to investigate. Maybe they could be given special hats.