On Saturday (9July) at the end of a “Black Lives Matter” demo several hundred people occupied the big A23 junction in Brixton by Lambeth Town Hall / “Windrush Square”, stopping all traffic and holding the space from around 6 PM until gone midnight. This is one of the main roads into London from the South, a key point both symbolically and in terms of the city’s infrastructure. For a few hours, the everyday routine of work / shopping / programmed entertainment came to a stop and people took over the street, musicians played, cops were told to get lost, while kids occupied the buses smoking weed.
The occupation followed a Black Lives Matter march in solidarity with the struggle in the US, remembering Alton Sterling, Philando Castile, and the countless other black people murdered by US cops. As well as those killed closer to home, including Sean Rigg who died in Brixton police station, and so many more.
The whole scene on Saturday evening was a textbook case of British “policing by consent”. The police easily had the force to shift the crowd with batons, if they chose, but clearly were under orders to avoid doing anything to provoke a fight. Brixton has changed dramatically over the years, with white yuppies taking up all the new wine bars just off the square, but the facade of social peace is paper thin, and storming into a largely black crowd on the high street remains a risk too far.
By late evening several dozen cops stood up the hill looking on, with more waiting in riot vans further back. Every hour or so cops would come to test the crowd, trying to push forward and move a bus. Every time, people quickly grouped together to form lines blocking them and made clear they wouldn’t get through unopposed. Each time, the feds then retreated, unwilling to use force. The only person detained (as far as we are aware) was a man taken away “for his own safety” after he attacked the crowd complaining that he wanted to get to work.
Also looking on, of course, was the myriad of CCTV cameras all around the junction and Windrush square, twitching as they followed events. Plus one helicopter, staying high for now making large circles.
Also very evident was the other key element of policing-by-consent: “self-policing” administered by “community leaders” and “organisers”. Throughout the evening, various organisers tried to convince the crowd to disperse, announcing that the demo was officially over. Some argued that the blockade was stopping ambulances from getting through: very obviously not true, actually the blockade meant the roads were clear further along, and indeed many ambulances did pass with full co-operation from the people. Whenever the police came to test the crowd and tensions rose, leaders were quickly on the scene to shout “No Violence, No Violence”, pleading with any potential “troublemaker” to respect the state’s monopoly of force.
The calls for non-violence were respected. There wasn’t a mood of real anger, and it was apparent that most people present were not up for a fight. But the calls to quit the road were ignored.