Pushka and Mitch cause havoc at May Day Event

[michele cryer]

Burnley, 1st May 2006:

Well, we marched the march with our red and black flags and our banner for Homeworkers, set up our stall with all the info sheets about Defy-ID, the NWADC, the Camp for Climate Change group (or whatever the real name is!!) plus a variety of booklets and miscellaneous stickers/bookmarks.

All was going really smoothly till some young lads, aged about 13, decided to help themselves to a few of all the freebies, including some Class War Stickers we'd obtained on Saturday at the Bookfair...thanks to all the stalls who let us take stuff, btw. They promptly went outside the marquee and showed off their stickers, 'Fuck the Police', 'Bollocks to the Countryside Alliance' etc. Next thing you know, the coppers are sniffing round our stall...'Yes it's this one' one of the female coppers muttered, sour faced. They then took Mitch to one side and informed her that we were breaking the law for giving these stickers away, to youngsters, and were on the point of shutting down our stall, till Mitch suggested they speak to the event organiser. They confiscated the remainder of the stickers, in fact Mitch invited them to take a look at the Tony Blair/George Bush ones which we're sure they'll keep for their own use...I took a piccy of Mitch negotiating with the plods...'Look, she's taking a picture of us, that's illegal' Sour Puss said, but was ignored...she didn't confiscate my camera, fortunately.

Anyway, they chatted to Jack Preston, the event organiser, who reassured them that all was well...'They're anarchists, they wouldn't be anarchists if they didn't have those stickers!' he said, then 'are you all right now?' The police said 'yes' then skulked off to bother some other poor buggers...leaving us with loads of free publicity and notoriety as people kept approaching our stall saying 'Weren't you just nearly arrested?' and asking what it was all about...

So, a jolly old day when all's said and done. We sold a few copies of Northern Voices and Freedom, also some copies of Organise and another one who's name I can't recall!! from the AF I think.

I'm gonna try to load the camera software onto my pc tonight, so hopefully piccies will follow soon.

Hope you all had a gay day tooo!!!

Cya,
Michele



Me and Mitch at our stall



Mitch negotiates with the cops!



Mitch and Jack Preston talk things over...

[Mitch]

Ha ha, wot a hoot! ;D

That photo with the coppers - at that moment I think I was showing them Class War's sticker of Bush shaggin Blair! and trying not to laugh at the same time!! What a bunch of heavy handed morons those coppers were!! I was half hoping they would demand to close our stall, and then I'd have had a field day!

Jack was a good sort (old friend of Jim Petty's!). As the coppers were leaving he said to them, ...'and make sure you don't hand out any of those confiscated stickers. Hilarious!

The stand went very well - particular interest in Asylum Seekers (we managed to have a few chats with people who had a complete misconception of the experiences of Asylum Seekerss - it's good to catch those people).

Plus a real interest in Anti ID cards - Knightrose - all of the Defy ID AF pamphlets and stickers went - there is a real interest in this issue in Burnley and we've to do another Defy ID stand soon in Burnley Town Centre.

Hats off to Class War - their stickers are really popular in Burnley, particularly the Dickhead Tory Twat Nick Griffin one - that one went down a treat ;D

Great report Michele - ra ra Burnley Anarchists.

tarara Mitch

[michele cryer]

Thanks for the additional info Mitch!! Today really was fab, I've been excitedly telling our story to all and sundry since I got home...must admit, my mum wasn't too happy about it, LOL...'just imagine if your names had been in the paper!' she said...poor darlin' teeheee ;D