#Occupy Critical Mass - Olympics

A peaceful good natured mass cycle that has happened on the last Friday of every month for the past eighteen years was met with police aggression, pepper spray, violence with truncheons used, kettling and multiple arrests.  From Occupy London


Red London buses full of confiscated bicycles present a very different image of what this city means to the people who live in it in 2012.

 “Tonight, the police criminalised cycling – cyclists were assaulted and arrested by the bus load. Early into Critical Mass, David Beckham was the first car behind a police blockade. When interest stirred about his presence, the police violently shoved cyclists to the floor and Beckham’s vehicle was the only one that was let through the road block,” commented Steve Rushton, Occupy London supporter and member of the Counter Olympic Network.

“The authorities’ response – both earlier and later during the arrests – contradicts the idea the games would encourage people to participate in sport or that these are the greenest games ever. It’s ironic that cyclists featured so heavily in the actual ceremony too, while their real-life counterparts were being arrested just nearby.” 

The Olympics has started and it seems cycling has become a criminal offence, worthy of police brutality.  From Occupy News Network.

The picture above has the caption, “A cyclist scuffles with police officers outside the Olympic Stadium.” Judging by the cyclists foot and the body angle, and the way the bike is off the ground; it looks more accurate to describe the scene as “Policeman dangerously lunges at cyclist, with support from three other officers as he cycles through a green light without any other cyclists anywhere near him.” You would think that if parts of the media were going to create such pro establishment propaganda – they could at least put some effort in.

Critical mass met as it does on a monthly basis to cycle as a swarm, for community reclaiming of streets in London. It met near Waterloo Bridge, at the Southbank Centre. From regulars’ accounts, as it is not a “protest”, this is normally free from police suppression and it follows the whims of the mass, with no clear direction ending its route on the Royal Mall.

On this gathering, the police were there on mass too: an authoritarian mass. They announced that under a section 12 no cyclists were allowed to cross the rivers and go to any of North London.

The over a thousand people assembled, did not move for a while. Then we set off first trying to cross Waterloo Bridge. The police blocked this route.I moved with the mass and we had similar problems at Blackfriars, our way blocked by a police line, which was also blocking the traffic. Then we headed to try Southwark Bridge, again this was blocked.

 David Beckham was stuck the other side of the roadblock in a dark SUV heading south.

 I saw cyclists thrown off their bikes, hit and manhandled for standing still. If the police had not blocked the road, this would not have happened.

And this is just the start, innocent cyclists arrested for  ....  cycling!!  Watch as new laws are quickly brought in to save us from  ... innocent cyclists who could be terrorists in disguise.