[REPORT] Bristol UK Uncut's Emergency Operation – 28th May 2011

On a wet and windy Saturday afternoon around 40/50 Bristolians attended a UK Uncut protest to save the NHS. Protesters first assembled in Castle Park, some donning doctors' scrubs, before moving to protest outside the Bristol Broadmead branch of Barclays, joining others who had a Save Our NHS stall and petition.

We were drawing attention to the relation between the huge bank bailout, the current £100 billion annual subsidy and the cuts being inflicted upon public services.

The protest stressed the opposition to Cameron/Lansley 'reforms', creeping privatisation and an agenda which will see the NHS as we know it disappear.

Intelligence had clearly reached Broadmead before the protestors, as Barclays had closed its doors to customers by the time we had reached the bank. And it stayed closed for the duration of the Emergency Operation.

Shoppers milling about were receptive to the UK Uncut protesters as they handed out leaflets and spoke to passers-by about the banks and the cuts, about their impact upon services, and especially implications for older people and disabled people.

Barclays bank was targetted due to its policy of avoiding paying UK taxes via its tax haven subsidiaries, for its obscene pay-packets for senior executives compared with its underpaid workforce, as well as being part of the sector that took nearly £1 trillion public money after having destroyed the world economy.

In the midst of a government campaign to convince the public that human beings must accept cuts to public services and a decline in the standard of living, we were angry that we are also being told that it was necessary to give billions of pounds of public money to millionaires who refuse to contribute to the public purse.

One protester explained, "It's like Robin Hood in reverse. I'm amazed that so many people believe the lie that we need to make cuts – if that's true, then where do they find the money to give to the banks?"

(... And for that matter the £1 billion it s estimated to have been spent on the war in Libya ...)

A leaflet being handed out reiterated this point: the boss of Barclays takes £11 million per year in his pay packet. This sum is 1000 times what the average Barclays cashier earns and would pay for the salaries of 542 nurses or 380,000 Education Maintenance Allowances yet the banking sector is still receiving £100 million a year from the public purse. The average wage for a Barclays bank teller or customer advisor is less than £14,000 per year!


At the same time ordinary Bristolians are facing £30 million cuts to local public services. A young activist explained "that's why we're here. It’s about the banks really - somehow everyone has forgotten how much money they stole, and are being convinced to blame the poor and the unwell for economic problems. It is such nonsense, but people believe it. We are here to tell them otherwise because the media won't".

After an hour or so outside Barclays, the protest moved to the nearby branch of NatWest, appropriately located opposite Lloyds TSB. A small brief occupation was halted by security. Somebody had clearly not told the anxious bank manager that the public owns the majority of NatWest via Royal Bank of Scotland: we were prevented from entering!

There were no arrests.

A spontaneous street meeting - which in itself attracted passers-by attention - outside NatWest, committed protesters to further and more direct action ... to be planned

Contact Bristol UK Uncut
twitter.com/bristolukuncut
facebook.com/bristolukuncut
bristolukuncut@riseup.net

Facebook Account Suspended

Our facebook group mysteriously vanished at some point over the last 12 hours, along with many other political accounts.

Others listed here:

http://anticutsspace.wordpress.com/2011/04/29/political-facebook-groups-deleted-on-royal-wedding-day

We're still on twitter, as @bristolukuncut, and you can email us at bristolukuncut@riseup.net.

We'll be adding other social media details very soon.

(Guest Post) Fortnum and Mason, Saturday March 26th 2011 - A note on what I observed

I am a 64 year old part time Complaints Manager for Social Services in North Somerset and also a Public Rights of Way officer for Bristol City Council.

From 1995 to 2006 I was Labour Cllr for Windmill Hill ward and for some of the time chaired Social Services Scrutiny Committee and the Public Rights of Way and Town Greens Committee.

I have three grown up children all in work.

I started the march at Nine Elms, crossed Westminster Bridge, and I arrived in Hyde Park at about 2.00pm and listened to speeches for forty five minutes before going to meet my daughter Rose aged 26 at the Park Lane Hilton Hotel. We then walked with her bike across Hyde Park Corner and walked parallel, in a contrary direction to the marchers on Piccadilly, through Green Park.

We came out on to Piccadilly just before the Ritz Hotel and noticed that one of the windows was broken but that people seemed to be going in and out as normal.

I suggested that we go to Fortnum and Mason for a cup of tea as I remembered going there once as a child with my mother, though I have since worked out that this never happened.

We arrived there at about 3.30pm and were shown how to get to tea room on the first floor which overlooked Piccadilly. Service was a bit slow and I guess we got our tea and cake at about 3.45pm. While we were consuming this and watching the marches a lot of people entered the store, probably at 3.55pm and came up to our floor and stood around the circular balustrade looking down to the ground floor.

We just kept on eating and drinking as did every one else. Waiters did not seem at all perturbed. When we finished at about 4.05pm, we wandered over. A man was playing bag pipes. Crowd seemed happy and peaceful. We went down to ground floor where there were more people. Someone made a speech.

We noticed three policemen. I think that shoppers were still coming into the store but not demonstrators. We then went to top two floors where there were no demonstrators and then down to basement to buy some interesting items to take home. I did notice that there were on the floor little packets of sweets, but nothing broken. We bought sausages and went back up to ground floor which was still peaceful. I did not see the woman police person who was on You Tube. We then left the store. There were policemen guarding it and scuffling with a man trying to get in, but nothing else going on and the march was still marching past from right to left in front of us.

Rose retrieved her bike which had been locked to the railings and was being stood on by a photographer and then we carried on down Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus noticing that there had been paint bombs at Santander.

I saw no violence in Fortnum and Mason and no looting.

Boris Johnson is quoted in the Grauniad, April 2^nd , as saying uncut activists ‘stormed the building, terrified staff, upset the customers and caused tens of thousands pounds worth of damage.’

I can only speak for the time we were there but during that time there, roughly 35 minutes, my impression was totally contrary to that.

Staff were not in the slightest bit terrified. Customers were not all upset and carried on customing for items such as `The Belgravia Hamper’ - £500, the F and M Teddy Bear - £90.00 and in our case six sausages (£6.15) which were very good and had no fat in them at all.

I actually think everyone, staff and customers rather enjoyed being in the middle of it all. I know I did.

I did not see any damage, only a few packets of small things chucked on the floor. I retrieved one which was four marzipan petit fours. (Not very nice unfortunately, so we gave them to some of Rose’s Woodcraft Friends who we encountered just outside on the March doing parachute games with children.)

This is my honest recollection. I cannot see why it would have ‘kicked off’ or got more violent after we left at 4.15pm because the lot inside were not there to cause trouble and no one else was allowed in.

-- Christopher Orlik

Welcome to the Bristol UK Uncut Blog

Hello!

This is where we'll be posting information, opinion pieces, plus documentation of UK Uncut-related activity locally and internationally.

Stay tuned...