Stonehenge ’85

The following extracts are from an eye-witness account of the 1st of June at Stonehenge…
“Soon there were ‘Police Slow’ notices and a roadblock. On the spur of the moment we decided to tell them that we were going to London. It seemed like a good idea anyway. There were only a couple of vans of Wiltshire Police, all very low profile stuff because the ‘respectable’ motorists used this route. They took our names and read us some rubbish about ‘attempting to join the festival’ would mean certain arrest…
“One person I met said he’d been crawling around in the fields the night before and whenever the Police heard a noise they fired off some flares”.
“At Amesbury roundabout was a punk with a black flag. He said everyone was meeting nearby to decide what to do. After sitting about for a bit we came across a load of people with a radio tuned to the Police wave band. From this we gathered that some people had cut their way through the wire round the stones and were defending themselves with fence posts. Also the message went out that the ‘convoy’ had established a site….”
“Rounding a corner we came upon another road block so we quickly turned into a petrol station full of ambulances. About 30 Police vans choked the road ahead, including Ministry of Defence vehicles. A friend wandered up to be turned back by cop telling him that there was some kind of “fracas” going on…”
“Down a side road the local MP, (fat cat Tory) was hanging around talking to journalists all day. He said the Police were “justified in defending themselves” whilst we added “You’re full of shit! You asshole! You bastard!”. We couldn’t believe some of the rubbish he was coming out with. On his suit he had a badge showing Rupert the Bear in a Police helmet…”
“Avoiding the lines of riot Police we all went over a fence and into some woods. A hundred yards further on we came out into a field full of broad beans. From there I could see a narrow grain-field full of vans, truck and buses drawn up in a circle like in the Western movies. Carefully picking our way through the bean field we crossed into the field with the Convoy. I asked what had happened and was told that the Convoy had avoided the road block by going through a hedge into the field we were standing in. There was a big force of riot Police on the horizon as convoy people argued with nearby police about the peoples right to have a free festival. We returned to the car and heard from friends that a truck had tried to run the roadblock and turned over sending its occupants flying. Swarms of riot police had charged at that moment beating both bystanders and the injured from the truck.”
“Half an hour later the police ’copter appeared and the riot police moved in, with Telecom vans conscripted to block roads. I stopped a pig with a C.S. canister on his back. There were shouts and sounds of windows smashing, then a long line of dejected people in the distance, many in handcuffs. They were made to stand in lines whilst being loaded into vans, at least one womyn looked very pregnant. One man I met said he’d just walked out of the field and the police hadn’t noticed him. Police had gone berserk. Met the ITN crew who were white and shaken. Some said they’d been in the Falklands but not seen anything this bad. “They were beating babies” one said. Most of the journalists were being ushered away by the Chief Constable with the words “My lads are getting a bit worked up. You’d best leave or you might get hurt…”. One of my friends photographing was picked up by her hair and thrown aside. Casualties came away, Men and wimmin with their heads bleeding, some covered in blood as if their skulls were broken, others with great gashes made with the edges of riot shields. Soon some beat bobbies arrived and said “20 seconds to get out of here or you’re arrested”. We left for the car and I felt like emigrating. So far the Police have spent 1 million Quid beating the shit out of people who wanted to sit on the grass…”

From: Stuff it : the theoretical journal of a Bristol Anarchist group, issue 5 [1985?] p.6.