Reflections on the 2008 Class War bonfire night in London Fields, Hackney

London Class War Bonfire night 2008: pigs

updated 13 November 2008:

OK, the London Fields Class War bonfire didn't exactly happen this year. Maybe we should call it the "Nonfire". But that doesn't mean that no-one tried. Far from it. Sure, there were 200 people or so, both in the park and in the nearby pub. And lots of cops. With cameras and bad attitudes. And some really blatant undercover plod too.

Round One: I got there about 8.30pm and already the first attempt to bring in a van of wood to make the bonfire had been thwarted by loads of pigs who jumped the vehicle as it arrived to unload. The occupants of the vehicle were searched and the van was seized. No worries, someone said to me, we've got a reserve van of wood.

But then those that went to pick it up were also intercepted, searched and warned off of trying to bring it in. It should be said at this point that there were at least 4 or 5 van loads of pigs (maybe 50 plod) lurking around the area, being "in yer face" with video cameras, as is usual for London.

A few beers later, people moved down one side of the pub into the park to try to gather for the fireworks, and they were of course blocked. A second 'column' then went round the opposite side of the pub (ha ha!) and got into the park behind it, with cops racing about.

Then things got silly. Someone lets of a real piffle of a firework (pheep, pffff, zzzssstt) and a bunch of pigs go for the miscreant (allegedly) responsible like she'd mortared Downing Street.

A full and frank exchange of views took place, including the words "Easy, tiger", "Fucking calm down" and "For fuck's sake, its fireworks night".

A bit of minor scuffling took place while citizens encouraged the pigs to let go by kicking them up the arse and pulling on the alleged miscreant's legs. She was ultimately de-arrested, to the satisfaction of all trouble-makers involved. So Round Two to us.

Then we saw that the pigs were multiplying and bringing their vans into the park and surrounding us on most sides with their headlights blazing. And there were video teams standing four in a row, recording our merry little faces as we drank and smoked and swore and did what we usually do.

Round Three: some evil cunts dished out SPARKLERS and waved them about (as you do, on fireworks night). This outrageous hate-crime was too much for the pigs, who waded in again and tried to seize the offending items. Again, scuffling, edging towards a brawl, took place, leading to some more 'arrests' which were closely followed by more de-arrests.

While all the sparkler terror-horror was being foiled by the brave police, some wags decided to fire a few rather small rockets right behind some other pigs, which led to them being chased by the increasing numbers of plod, who were again dissuaded from arresting them through some gentlemanly shouting, swearing and pulling on people's legs.

So we had spotted the undercovers who were in among us: easy to spot, because they had radios going 'Crrrrkkk - charlie tango oscar moonbeam 4, over, crrrkk' which sort of gave them away (See photos of one of the cunts here plus hardcore sparkler violence).

So we pointed them out to everyone and shouted at them and got some people with cameras to photograph them. Other people suggested they 'fuck off' but the undercover shits didn't seem interested in listening. Someone helpfully booted one to encourage him to leave us alone. Didn't work. More scuffling.

Silly me, I asked a pig "why they were fucking bothering" to interfere, given that the only people there were perfectly happy to lose an eye or a finger because of fireworks launched by their brethren.

He pointed out that if I said 'fucking' again he would nick me as he was alarmed, harrassed and distressed by my threatening and abusive behaviour and language (Section 5, Public Order Act 19-something).

I re-phrased my question as I realised I had a video pig on each ear, and suggested that this was a waste of time, given that tonight really was fireworks night, and it was sort of traditional to let off fireworks on fireworks night, because if you didn't, it wouldn't really be fireworks night would it?

So the pig tells me that there is Hackney parks bye-law against the use of fireworks in London Fields, and they were enforcing this bye-law as their duty.

I suggested again that it was perhaps a waste of time (didn't use the word 'fucking' this time) given that they were using now nearly 100 pigs to stop adult people messing about with a few whizz-bangs while gangs of kids were happily blowing the shit out of each other and everything to hand with the sort of enormous metre-long display fireworks you normally get in Baghdad.

So my attempt at reason was fruitless. This was no surprise. I don't know why I bother sometimes...

So as the night progressed, each time someone tried to set of a firework, a gang of pigs would wade in, a tug-of-war with the alleged individual would ensue, normally resulting in a de-arrest.

As a result, people moved further out into the park to continue letting off their little explosives. With hilarious consequences.

I believe the actual arrested totalled 2, with many, many more de-arrested. Another fine evening of local park bye-law enforcement and squiffy scuffling.

While all this was happening, in Hackney there were quite probably a number of beatings, robberies, burglaries, maybe some rapes and muggings. But the pigs seemed happy with their work.

See you all next year!

Remember, remember, the fifth of November,
Gunpowder, Class War and grot

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submitted response:

We aren't going to go away, you know!

from londoncwf@yahoo.co.uk ... We at London Class War regret that the bonfire didn't happen as planned. This is, though, not the end of the story. Our attempt this year may not have succeeded, but we are exploring a range of ideas to ensure success next year. If the police believe that their actions have made us think again about the bonfire, they're right. We are determined that next year will be bigger and better than the last bonfire party which went ahead, in 2006. And, with your help, we'll make certain that Bonfire night, 2009, is a party to remember.

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