A-Infos (en) Britain, Anarchist Federation - AF-London on the Olympics

Fortress Olympics looms over London ---- Residents on in Tower Hamlets  and Leytonstone 
were horrified when they learnt that surface to air missiles were to be positioned on 
their estates. The positioning of missiles is only part of the story. As many as 16,200 
security forces will be deployed in London, in addition to 17,000 troops (more troops than 
the British Army have in Afghanistan). A sonic weapon designed to disperse crowds by 
administering “head splitting pain” is ready to be deployed. Unmanned drones will be 
patrolling the skies over London. An aircraft carrier will be anchored nearby on the 
Thames in addition to other warships. ---- A “safe zone” will be put in place with eleven 
miles of electrified fence, patrolled by 55 teams of attack dogs.

This is not North Korea or the Soviet Union but London today.  During the Olympics in 
Peking, not even the Chinese government put up such a fence or drone planes.

The 2006 Olympic Games Act means that not only the police and armed forces can use 
physical force to “protect the Olympics but also private security forces. This covers 
anything from peaceful demonstrations, strikes, and the sale of bootleg Olympic products 
on the street that are not officially approved. “Brand protection teams” will patrol 
inside the Games to make sure that only clothes or accessories with commercial messages 
officially approved can be worn.

In addition people congregating on the street, a normal occurrence particularly in summer 
months, will be harassed, in particular local working class youth. In fact this is already 
happening with increased surveillance and harassment in the boroughs bordering the 
Olympics. Rough sleepers will be removed. The police can remove anyone “deemed in any way 
to be causing a nuisance”.

There is no sign that this will disappear with the end of the Olympics. The police will 
end up more armed and arrogant than before, London and Britain will be saddled with 
enormous debt as a result of exorbitant Olympics spending, whole neighbourhoods will be 
socially cleansed and gentrified, taxes will be increased and all the security devices and 
cameras installed will stay in place.

The Games are not about sport. They are about phony patriotism, brand placing, 
profiteering for estate agents and landlords. They are there to boost the push towards 
neo-liberalism, to destroy our working class neighbourhoods, to boost the power of a state 
that is increasingly a police state. Who is the enemy in this new Britain? It is us, the 
majority of the population.

The Anarchist Federation (London) will be supporting the march and events organised by the 
Counter Olympics Network (CON) on July 28th

See here: counterolympicsnetwork.wordpress.com/

We urge everyone concerned by the impact of the Olympics to  support the events and the CON.

london@afed.org.uk
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