tice Scarman will soon be druwing his conclusions.
always been to use the events of Red Lion Square as a pretex: for extendsistent work to budd an eng the general powers of the police pickets. This would have to be done by portraying the events as just another symptom of a rising tide of bloody-minded violence and law breaking', thus ignoring the issue of the fascists and the violence gainst the working class which they represent.
NOT EASY because the IMG, NUS, Liberation and the CPE(M-E.) have continually Placed the National Front into the Leading NF members Kingsley Reed lefti and John Tyndall were told by police that they could not go ahead with a meeting in Huggerston School, Hackney, last Friday after 300 anti-fascists had blockaded the hall. Later some of the local NF members were battle of Red Lion Square, Lord JusThe main aim of the Inquiry has over all workers" demonstrations and But this won't be so easy. Not Just the square Hall. centre of the Tribunal, but because since Red Lion Square, chere has grown up a broad movement of opposition to the Natronal Front which Includes even the Labour Party.
The police story i that they were there on 15 June playing their usua neutral role, keeping hostile factions apart, and keeping the peace for pus sers-by. Then along came these leftwing lunatics who assaulted the police and started un hour-long riot The IMG didn't deny that its supporters tried to break through the future police cordon in Red Lion Square However, we pointed out that this arose spontancously after the police had changed the route of the demo astration to prevent it from going past Conway Hall, to an apreed meeting place in the south-case conner of The police sis, however, that the arginisers most have misunderstood' the route all alous. Scarman happily appears to have accepted the veracity of this so-called misunderstanding'.
THEOBALD'S ROAD
Those who remember the battle will recall that the anti-fascist demonstrators later placed a mass picket a0r05s Theobald's Road in an effort to stop the National Front going through to Conway Hall, The mounted police, in conjunctlon with pollee bebind the crowd charged the crowd and split them in to two seccions, pinning them against traffic railings on either side of the toad, Everyone there assumed this was to cut & passage for the Front, although in the event the Front were laken along a different route to the The police now say that it was Dever intended that the Front should go along Theobalds Road This came as news to Martin Webster, and the inspector in charge of the mounted pojice!
The Special Patrol Group were es pecially active.un 15 June. They made arbitrary arrests. From the transcript of police radio messages, it can he seen that the Sici were sometimes used as arresting squads sent in after demonstrators lad been defeated hy a police operation, on the order to make arrests The purpose of the demonstrators from coming back in INTERPRETATION The & the only possible interpro lation of another incident in Boswell Street, where the SPG went after an IMG contingent marching with linked arms away from the area, on ordors to break them up: They did Scarman is now upen to recommendations about what needs to be done to reinforce "public order" The IMG is demanding among other Things, the banning of National Front marches by the lahour movement, the disbanding of the SPG, and the drop ping of all charges against defendant. ansing from Ked Lion Square.
POLICE PROPOSALS
The police will publish their propo sais at the end of this week. They claim they will be mild". We shall see. But there is one delinite casualty of the whole affair-the organisers of the demonstration, Liheration, After Tony Gilbert, the Secretary tried to score political points against the IMG from the witness box, and made revelations about how Liberabon had intended to line up CP stew ands in front of police cordons to de fend them from the 'adventurous left, be announeed that they will ne ver oreanise anti-National Front coutter demonstrations again
violence and politics FINGERING THE