Xstrata 16 – An Inside View

John Ranson, one of the arrestees from November 30, gives an account of his experience of the case.

Eight months after being spuriously charged with burglary, imprisoned overnight and deprived of our clothes and shoes before being released to find our way home in the small hours, the sixteen of us arrested on November 30 2011 were finally declared not guilty of criminal offences under the Public Order Act.

It all started with a banner-drop from the roof of a Central London office block. Our huge banner read “ALL POWER TO THE 99%”, neatly tying the ethos of Occupy London to the anti-cuts agenda of the TUC’s Day of Action. Appropriately, the office in question was home to the obscenely remunerated Mick Davis, CEO of the mining conglomerate Xstrata.

After the initial violence of our arrest, what followed was tedious. Nearly 24 hours in detention, an appointment to answer bail and a total of six days in court, all spanning a period of 252 days – the whole ordeal seemed contrived to bore us into submission. Happily, it also gave us a great opportunity to socialise. I knew none of these folks before N30 whereas now I count them among my best friends.

I knew nothing about Xstrata before N30 either, and if we’d received just a wagging finger that might still be the case. But given how harshly we were treated, it was only right and proper that Xstrata should be thoroughly investigated. And so, the Carnival of Dirt was born. When I heard that Peruvians, blighted by Xstrata, were planning a solidarity action alongside our carnival, all the hassle of the arrest felt worthwhile.

That’s not to say I sought the arrest. It’s been an expensive and time-consuming business which I could have done without. I was roughed-up but not injured; some of the others on that roof weren’t so fortunate. None of us had been made aware of the risks or nature of our target by Occupy London before we were sent into action, leaving us subsequently feeling quite annoyed. Lessons need to be learnt. Ignorance is no basis on which to build an ongoing direct action movement.

My abiding thoughts, however, are positive: the sense of justice in fighting our charges, the mutual support of a very special group of friends and, of course, the massive relief of a ‘not guilty’ verdict.

By John Ranson (@John_Ranson)