REPOST from in the belly of the beast
On a cold freezing New Years Eve night HMP Pentonville & Holloway were literally set on fire. A small gathering managed to bring the meaning of solidarity to the prisoners in a night full of so much passion and emotion for different reasons, especially after we heard about how the other protest in Brixton was repressed using pepper spray, several being attacked & arrested by the cops that try to control us everyday of our lives, both physically (as shown) and psychologically (the ability of the civil majority to repress themselves). We were determined for this crack we had opened within the fabric of prison society to not go the same way as the other demo.
After marching around the right hand side of Pentonville prison we began chanting with all our force, numerable fireworks quickly appeared and were fired above the prison, quickly followed by burning material being thrown from the windows of one of the cells. We were ecstatic to hear the prisoners screaming anti-police slogans and the one lone prisoner that we could not see, but could hear bellowing in a low voice the one beautiful word ‘Freedom’ from his cell. Quite literally we had brought fire to the cells within minutes of arriving.
On continuing our circuit around the perimeter of the prison, we stumbled upon a heaving memorial set out on the corner of the prison, to our utter disgust and anger we heard from the mouths of the local youth of the nearby estate that a young man had been run over by the murderers in uniform only last friday (26/12/14).
Henry Hicks, 18, was mown down after a police chase, in which the cops claim he failed to stop when demanded. We saw anti-police graffiti all over the walls of the prison, blaming the cops for the death of the local boy. Locals where still hanging on the corner detailing to us how the whole killing occurred, how even the cops threw sand on the floor in a failed attempt to cover up the blood and their own assassin deed. Clearly we could still see the red of the blood still staining the pavement.
First came the tears, then came the anger, we decided instantly to march in the street and make our presence known outside the local HQ of the transport police, just outside the front of the prison. We continued to chant anti-police slogans such as ‘No Justice, No Peace, Fuck the Police!’, ‘A,C,A,B! All Cops Are Bastards!’ & ‘Who killed Henry Hicks? Police killed Henry Hicks!’ More communication was made to the displeasure of the 20 police who came out the station to confront us, obviously they were on a heightened tension as we shoved our banner, reading ‘BREAK THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW!’ in their faces. Meanwhile in the background we could see prisoners again burning material from their windows and switching on and off the lights in their cells. Clearly the prisoners knew what had happened on the corner of the hellhole they are captive in, continuing to shout louder anti-police slogans.
We took a short march to the women’s prison Holloway & again preceded to march around the perimeter as close as possible to the wall, letting off a spectacle of more fireworks for those outside. We also persisted to bang on metal dumpsters outside raising a crescendo of noise that was so loud that the prisoners must have heard it alongside the chant of ‘THE PASSION FOR FREEDOM, IS STRONGER THAN THE PRISON!’ & ‘FIRE TO THE PRISONS!’ Towards the end even fireworks were thrown into the grounds over the prison walls, the two PCSO’s (Police Community Support Officer) tracking us where unable to do anything due to our bigger numbers. One firework even caught a tree on fire within the perimeter of the prison, to our ecstatic screams we could see smoke starting to billow from the wall as we disappeared into the night, an image that will never leave us or the prisoners who witnessed it.
FIRE TO THE PRISONS!
In dedication to Henry Hicks, your killing will not be forgotten!
‘They take 1 of ours, let’s take 2 of theirs!’
