Mayday in Brighton.

This years Mayday protests focused on the arms trade, specifically the Edo MBM factory in Brighton. I didn't attend because I wasn't expecting much from the organisers. As it turns out I owe them an apology because it ended up being a very successful protest.

http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/static_idtxt__googlemap.aspx

The day started at around 11:30 when 50 cyclists set out from Brighton Station in a slow moving critical mass style procession. At around 12:00 the cyclists closed the Palace Pier roundabout by cycling around it. They were quickly joined by around 400-500 protesters on foot who hoisted banners and declared the party started. They were quickly encircled by the police who were unable to prevent the protest moving up the Old Steine at around 12:35. As the protest reached the junction with North Street the police, now in Level 3 riot gear, were forced to surround a branch of the Royal Bank of Scotland in order to prevent damage to the property. This meant they were unable to protect a near by branch of Barclays Bank so the scaffold surrounding it was quickly climbed by protesters who unfurled a banner reading Arms Dealers Out of Brighton. By 13:00 the march, which was now headed by mounted police, set off up Queens Road where an Army recruitment centre and a branch of McDonalds were attacked with paint bombs.

At 13:20 the march, which had now swelled to around 1500 people, arrived at Brighton station and was forced to negotiate Trafalgar street. This is a narrow street that passes under the station concourse making it a natural choke point which has previously been used by the police to kettle unruly demonstrations. On this occasion the marchers were having no of it and broke through police lines in clashes that saw missiles thrown, batons used and a police CCTV van blinded with white paint. Untroubled by police cordons the march headed down Trafalgar street, past St Peter's Church and onto the London Road. At around 13:40 the march paused outside another branch of McDonalds which had it's windows wobbled before the police set up a sterile square across the street to protect it. During this time a police van was immobilised, re-painted and lightly damaged although attempts to set it on fire failed when a flare was lit underneath rather then inside it. This delay allowed the police to set up a cordon between London Road and Ditchling Road in an attempt to force the protest into Preston Park where it could be contained. At 13:50 the protest again showed that it wasn't going to be dictated too and smashed through police lines onto Ditchling Road. This caused the protest to effectively split into two with a smaller, fluffier group heading straight for Preston Park while the main group headed up Ditchling Road. At around 14:10 the police tried to stop the protest moving down Stanford Avenue. Again this led to violent clashes where batons were used and bricks were thrown before the police line was broken for a third time and the protest moved down Standfrod Avenue to Preston Park in order to reunite the two groups. By 14:20 the two groups had reassembled in Preston park and there were further clashes with the police in which a second CCTV wan was blinded by paint.

Finding itself in the wide open space of a park the march lost momentum as the protesters sat around and had a bit of a picnic. This allowed the police to gain control of the situation and at around 15:00 they began moving the protest back down the London Road in a controlled fashion. This control didn't extend to blocking Trafalgar Street so the police escaped the police's clutches and headed up the street to Brighton station. At around 15:15 the protest hit the choke point for the second time and this time the police were much better prepared with the gradient on their side and successfully blocked the groups path. Over the course of the next hour there was an aggressive stand off while barricades were built, bricks, bottle and punches were thrown and the police responded with baton charges. This was by far the most violent part of the day and caused many of the protesters to lose interest. By 16:15 the protest had dispersed to St Peter's Church where two sound systems were set up, people chilled out and generally carried on with the party. The police retreated to the police station on John Street partly for a rest and partly to set up a protective cordon because they expected an attack on the city's main police station. At 17:00 the protest did reform but headed back to the Palace Pier roundabout. By 17:15 the police had redeployed to the roundabout leading to a small running battle along the King's Road where flares and other missiles were thrown at the police. By 17:50 the protesters had occupied the roof of a sea front cafe and remained there until the protests fully dispersed at around 20:00. Overnight there was some damage to property and graffiti against Banks and local suppliers of the Edo MBM factory.

The protest is being widely reported as the largest demonstration Brighton has seen in 20 years. This is simply not true. On the first day of the Iraq war around 3000 Brighton residents got together at dawn and blockaded all main road and rail links in and out of the city. They held their positions until the evening when they linked up with another 10,000 protesters for a protest march that brought the city to a standstill and led to the Town Hall being overrun. On that occasion the police didn't so much battle for control as hid in the police station until people got bored and went home of their own accord. On the neither that demonstration or Monday's Mayday protest the police attempted to use kettling tactics instead relying on the older public order tactic of sectoring where a large crowd is broken up into smaller groups by deploying riot officers to set up sterile squares to protect key locations.

Looking back on their Mayday operation the police will be able to identify several positives;

1. They didn't kill anyone. After the G20 protests the police were so worried about this the took to deploying Ambulance service paramedics in riot gear to work alongside the riot officers.
2. There was no large scale or serious damage to property.
3. Although the demonstration disrupted the normal operation of the city the police were able to keep traffic flowing without any serious delays.

The protesters will also be able to look back at some key successes from the day;

1. The March Was Unconfined. Up until it's arrival in Preston Park the protest was able to go where it wanted when it wanted. They dropped the ball slightly on the London Road and in Preston Park but were able to recover the initiative.
2. Property Damage. A number of windows were broken and shops were damaged alongside 3 police vehicles that were put out of action. The only restriction on more damage being done seemed to be the protesters desire to do so.
3. Resistance of Police Surveillance. Aside from the two CCTV vans that were blinded Forward Intelligence teams were frequently prevented from photographing protesters and on a number of occasions were forced to retreat by the crowd.
4. De-arrests The police attempted to effect 12 arrests throughout the day but only 3 were successful as protesters moved to protect each other.
5. The Black Bloc. This protest featured a small but organised black bloc who were prepared to wear masks and deploy protective and other specialist equipment. This is the first time I have seen this at a protest on the British mainland and is the sort of thing that will make the security services very nervous especially if the protesters learn that cycle helmets are much more effective then builders helmets.

Obviously coming so soon after the G20 protests the Mayday demonstration suffered from a lack of numbers but it was worth noting that around 2000 Mayday protesters seemed to achieve more then 9000 G20 protesters. If I had to score the event I would say that the protesters beat the police 5-3 on the day giving the anarchists a 10-4 aggregate win for the whole weekend.