uk.indymedia.org Manchester features

Abolish All Immigration Prisons

borderhoppers — 2009-03-17T21:17+02:00

Last Friday evening, two dozen activists entered the offices of Minister for Immigration and Borders Phil Woolas in Oldham, ‘detaining’ him for about 30 minutes. The campaigners included members of No Borders Manchester, No One Is Illegal and the Anarchist Federation . The action intended to mirror the government’s practice of detaining migrants in ‘immigration removal centres’ without trial or sentencing, for indefinite periods of time. This was the second time since his appointment last year that the immigration minister has become the target of an action by No Borders, after a member of the group pushed a custard pie in his face last October .

On Tuesday morning, 20 anti-deportation campaigners blocked access to the Tinsley House immigration detention centre near Gatwick airport. Activists used d-locks and superglue to blockade the entrance gate for several hours. The action aimed to prevent the forced deportation on a charter flight of approximately 50 Iraqi refugees from the UK.

Groups affiliated to the UK No Borders network are now calling for demonstrations against immigration detention on Saturday 21st March. A protest march will lead from Bedford to the Yarl’s Wood detention centre, which was half destroyed by fire in 2002, following an uprising ignited by the ill-treatment of a sick woman by guards. Transport is available from London. Solidarity demonstrations are planned in Manchester and Edinburgh. The demonstration in Manchester will be going to the newly-expanded ‘Pennine House’ detention facility at the airport. The campaign to close this prison has achieved a high profile recently after the invasion of Phil Woolas’s offices and an intervention during a speech by Manchester City Council leader Richard Leese. In Edinburgh, campaigners will picket the private security company G4S. G4S profits from running immigration prisons in the UK, including Brook House, Dungavel near Glasgow and Pennine House.

Links: Tinsley House blockade | Photos 1 | Phil Woolas Detention | Custard Pie

Over a dozen university occupations for Palestine

imc-uk-features — 2009-01-22T13:00+02:00

Students across the country are holding occupations and sit ins in solidarity with Gaza. SOAS shut down a MOD exhibition on their campus whilst students at LSE declared victory after seven days when the university agreed to all of their demands.

They are followed by others at King's College,Essex, Warwick, Sussex , Birmingham and over 80 Oxford University students have occupied the historic Bodleian building to demand that the university releases a statement condemning the attack on Gaza and cancel the lecture series at Balliol College inaugurated by Israeli war criminal Shimon Peres. There are also early reports of occupations at Manchester Met, Newcastle, Leeds, Cambridge [Pics], Bradford, Queen Mary, Sheffield Hallam, Nottingham, Strathclyde and Manchester universities. Update Wed 28th: The occupations have started to bring in results as both Sussex and Bradfod students have declared "victory" [See Sussex and Bradford declarations] On the other hand, the Cambridge University occupation is under threat of eviction [more] Update Sun 1st Feb: Nottingham occupation violently evicted [more | video] Update 11th Feb: Golsmiths University and the University of East Anglia are occupied.

In Yorkshire, students have occupied a building at Leeds University whilst the Bradford AGM voted to give the university the weekend to comply with demands to support the Palestinians, or expect action on Monday. On Tuesday morning, around 80 students occupied the university boardroom. The students say they "are enraged and horrified by the unspeakable atrocities that have been committed by the Israeli military on the people of Palestine, and ... will not tolerate the complicity of ... institutions of education in this violence."

Regional features: Cambridge | Nottingham | Sheffield

Northern Climate Rush

2009-01-13T13:59+02:00

On Monday 12th Jan 2009 between 1830 and 2100, free expression occurred
at terminal three of Manchester International Airport. A protest was held by Climate Rush in a designated zone away from all passengers and prying eyes with a cordon for the press and some police horses.

Approximately one hundred protesters descended decorously to make their
views on airport expansion known. Edwardian dress was the order of the day,and we didn't disappoint. Top hats and tails, corsets, shawls and a street urchin all made an appearance.

Resistance escalates with Airport 'Green' Light

imc-uk — 2009-01-12T13:13+02:00

Both Heathrow and Manchester airports were targeted Monday with the domestic departure lounges of both airports simultaneously occupied by protesters. In London over 500 people defied airport bylaws by staging a sit-down dinner forcing airport operator BAA to close 18 check-in desks. In Manchester police used powers under Section 14 of the Public Order Act to contain up to 100 protesters on the ground floor of Terminal 3 and there was one arrest.

The Climate Rush actions were timed to coincide with MPs return to the house of commons with the government expected to announce the decision on the Heathrows airport expansion during week. Meanwhile, Greenpeace revealed that a plot of land within the proposed expansion site had been purchased in an attempt to delay the construction.

Despite media speculation that the announcement would be delayed, by Wednesday nght the media were reporting that the expanision plans have been given the green light. After the official announcement on Thursday, 'climate suffragettes' smashed the windows of the Department of Transport and on Saturday 500 flash mobbed at Heathrows terminal 5.

MEDIA CITY – DREAM LAND UK ?

salford star — 2008-12-13T20:43+02:00

A recently released academic paper questions the very basis of Media City and the BBC move as a tool for creating jobs and equality in the community and sorting out Salford’s economic problems. Its author, Brett Christopher, is well out of the way of any vested interests, based at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. Basically, he argues that the benefits cited for the Peel Holdings led project “appears to be an article of faith” which get repeated by its champions and somehow gains credibility.

He writes that “we can perhaps think of the project as a form of `corporate gentrification’…whereby `real estate development becomes a centrepiece of the city’s productive economy, an end in itself’…” Or in plain English, that Media City is more about building loads of luxury apartments, expensive commercial spaces and places for “elite consumption practices” than anything else. Read full article at the Salford Star website.

Oil-money magnates buy up Man City football club

James — 2008-12-01T18:31+02:00

Manchester City are joining the Premier League big spenders as their new owners splash the cash in an effort to bring the good times to the Eastlands. They still have along way to go, as Sunday's 1-0 defeat at home to Manchester United proves, but just where has their new found wealth come from? Sarah Irving investigates...

Mule Web Issue Out Monday 1st December

mule — 2008-11-30T20:24+02:00

See the Mule website for the December Web Special Mule issue!

The December 2008 Mule Issue will be a special web exclusive issue, and will mark the official launch of our website. From Monday the 1st of December you'll see a steady stream of new articles uploaded to the website regularly over the course of the month, to form Issue 5. Visit the mule website

Liverpool anti-ID picket: No One Is Illegal

Manchester No Borders — 2008-11-26T22:54+02:00

20 students and No Borders/anti-ID campaigners from Manchester made their way to Liverpool on 25th November, the day that the government introduced ID cards for non-EU nationals living in the UK. There they joined a group of 30 Merseyside activists outside Reliance House to protest at the introduction of compulsory ID cards for international students and non-EU spouses on that day.

Squat Manchester - an uprising of autonomous activity

Tricky — 2008-04-23T23:14+02:00

This weekend saw an uprising of unauthorised squat related activities, including a squatting film night, banner drops, a new squatted social centre, public family fun day, a No Borders March, the occupation of Jacksons Wharf and a busted 'free' party. Check out this summary of the weekends' events.

Up to 200 squatters and supporters followed a call for an unauthorised demonstration in the city centre from Manchester's No Borders group. Accompanied by a samba band (Rhythms of Resistance) and two soundsystems mounted on bike trailers. "With the cops not bothering to show up, we marched undisturbed from Victoria Station into the Northern Quarter, along Market Street and Kings Street , through Spinningfields into Castlefields."

The lead banner read FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT FOR ALL - DEFEND AUTONOMOUS SPACES. Hundreds of copies of the Mesho were given out to passers by. The Mesho was a squat themed spoof news paper was also distributed in other participating cities.

The aim of the widespread action was is to develop interconnections and solidarity between autonomous spaces and help create more visibility for them as a political movement. In the UK the scale of the actions were extensive. Fuller coverage is here.

(A summary of the weekend ) (Demonstration of squatters turns into mass occupation) (Pics of demo and mass action | Video of demo Stream or Download Mpeg1

Also on the subject of immigration and fighting gentrification Check this upcoming event.
Movement for Justice in El Barrio is a grass roots organisation of immigrant communities fighting against gentrification in El Barrio (East Harlem) 7.30 pm Thursday 8th May 2008 at the Town Hall Tavern, Manchester - more info

Biofuels: A wolf in sheep's clothing!

2008-03-06T16:59+02:00

The start of the new year has seen environmental campaigners from around Manchester taking action to raise awareness of the threat to global ecosystems posed by plans for increased bio-fuel production. Biofuels were initially viewed by many as a clean, sustainable solution to an impending oil crisis: emissions produced by their combustion are lower, and CO2 is absorbed by the fuels as they are grown. However, further investigation shows large-scale industrial production of biofuels to be potentially more harmful than the use of conventional fossil fuels. Campaigners have attempted to expose the EU's plans for increased biofuel production as a wolf in sheep's clothing.

Manchester Climate Change Activists Blockade Domestic Flights

2007-10-10T15:25+02:00

Activists from Manchester Climate Action and Manchester Plane Stupid blockaded the security check-in of terminal 3 of Manchester Airport.

Passengers were denied access to the departure lounge by seven activists locked together using arm-tube devices. Two banners were unfurled reading, “Manchester City Council...supporting climate chaos” and “Domestic flights cost the Earth”. Other protesters leafleted passengers with information about aviation and climate change as well as handing out train timetables for route destinations.

Video | Photos | Press release

Anti-war greeting for Tweedle Brown

imc-uk-features — 2007-06-27T12:12+02:00

Gordon Brown is facing an anti-war welcome during his first week in power, with little sign that he will break with Blair's disastrous foreign policy. A War Is Still the Issue camp was set up in Parliament Square from Saturday 23rd [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Video ] (the fact that it was allowed may be a sign that SOCPA will be repealed? ... well, in fact probably not!). There was a demonstration outside Brown's Labour leadership coronation in Manchester on Saturday [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] and a Military Families Against War demonstration took place on his first day as Prime Minister on Wednesday [ Pics ] Later in the evening, a small group of activists braved the rain outside Blair's new Connaught Square home and made neighbours aware of their new resident [ Pics ].

Links: War is Still the issue | Voices in the Wilderness | Justice Not Vengeance | Stop the War Coalition | Military Families Against the War

Protest at Kidnap Centre

mcr imc — 2007-03-17T20:41+02:00

The Congo Support Network held a demonstration on 13 March 2007 at Dallas Court Reporting Centre, Salford Quays, in opposition to the recent and continuing deportations of Congolese asylum seekers to war-torn DRCongo. It was attended by over 100 Congolese and Libyan refugees and supporters. To begin with everyone assembled in the road opposite the main entrance to Dallas Court before marching round to the back, where kidnapped asylum seekers are snuck out in blue vans to detention centres. Soon after, the crowd assembled at the entrance and the demonstartors held a banner completely across the doors.

The entrance to Dallas Court was then blockaded by the brave protesters, before being forced back by the police. The refugees chanted: 'SHUT DOWN DALLAS COURT!' and 'NO DEPORTATIONS!' throughout, along with many chants and songs in French. At around 1:30pm news emerged that Rosetta, a female Congolese asylum seeker who had had to 'report', had been kidnapped at Dallas Court while the protest was happening! In solidarity, the protesters announced that they would extend their protest and stay until Rosetta was released. They chanted for the next 2 hours and the atmosphere was electric. At one point the police attempted to arrest a Congolese man. As he was dragged off towards the police van the crowd swarmed around and dragged him from their grasp.

Full report | Close Down Dallas Court

Everything But The Incendiary

mcr imc — 2007-02-26T20:51+02:00

The Animal Liberation Front (ALF) has been active throughout the UK, since the 1980s, and operates globally today. Individuals campaigning for animal rights have liberated thousands of animals, and have caused millions of pounds worth of damage to those who profit through their suffering. Everything But the Incendiary is a celebration of all these individuals.

Through different events, installations and information this exhibition at Manchester's basement social centre will provide people with a space to discuss issues connected with animal rights, share skills, and promote direct action in the endless struggle to help those who are defenceless in the face of corporate greed, and in the name of so-called 'science'.

Full article

Esso: Number One Denier

mcr imc — 2007-02-13T20:51+02:00

Thirty climate activists shut down an ESSO petrol station Feb 9th on Upper Brook Street in Manchester for two hours, using bits of fencing and traffic cones. The action aimed to highlight the link between the oil industry and global warming. As a symbol against car culture, three people locked themselves with D-locks to bicycles. Two others were locked to concrete based signs. Two large banners were displayed reading “no.1 supplier, no.1 denier, no.1 profiteer” and “closed for denying climate change”.

Climate change has become very topical of late. A week earlier and coinciding with the latest IPCC report on climate change, an illustration of a carbon footprint was found decorated on pavements in Manchester outside flight centres, petrol stations, supermarkets and a humvee garage. Remaining on a climate theme, there is to be a celebration in Manchester of the perfect antedote to global warming, the bicycle. From 30th March to 20th April the I Bike MCR festival takes place - a grassroots festival organised by cyclists for cyclists with diverse events that will entice any cyclist.

Carbon Footprints: What Do They Mean? | I Bike MCR festival | Esso garage Shut Down