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Britain
Bristol Indymedia server seized tonight
2005-06-28
Direct from the fever swamps of Britian
Have just been informed that police visited the home address of a member of the Bristol Indymedia Collective (BIM) late this afternoon (approx 5.30pm) armed with a search warrant.
They seized from the property the persons personal computer, as well as the Bristol Indymedia server. The member of the collective has also been taken into custody, although his partner was told this was just for a 'chat' and he'd be home soon!?
That's what they always say. Next thing you know, you're waking up in an orange jumpsuit in a tropical "resort"
LIBERTY, who have previously been involved in this matter have been advised of the situation, and action is being taken to contact a local solicitor to take on the immediate case. As at 7pm Avon & Somerset police, specifically the Trinity Rd police station custody suite, have stated that the collective member is not presently in their custody. It is possible he is being held by Bristish Transport police?
No one expects the Transport Police!
The background to this situation is that on approx 17 June an anonymous post to the Bristol Indymedia newswire reported an 'action' in which objects were dropped onto a freight train carrying new cars somewhere near Avonmouth (I think). The action was contextualised as highlighting climate change/car use/over-consumption etc in the run up to the G8 summit. Rumours suggest the action caused around 100k damage. One regular poster to Bristol Indymedia, and expelled ex-collective member, Mark Watson (of Zaskar films) then posted a comment saying he morally disagreed with the action, that the post breached BIM guidelines, and that he had contacted the police & advised them BIM kept IP info (since denied by BIM).
Mark is a traitor to the cause, we hates him, yeeesssss we does.
There was then a period of dialogue between BIM, Liberty & the police, in which Liberty/BIM argued that any info on the server was in any case subject to special rules covering journalistic info, and the server could not be seized using a standard search warrant. No links to Bristol Indymedia are included here as the site is presently down!
Hard to link to a missing server
Whatever the legal case, the cops have now gone ahead and seized the server. This differs from the recent instance when UK Indymedia's servers were seized from their 'host' Rackspace, as BIM have their own stand-alone server. This poster sincerely hopes they have some mirror servers to back it up!
This poster is also trying to contact the rest of the BIM collective to discuss/find out what action can be taken to defend Indymedia.
"collective" being the perfect word to descibe this group
As the G8 summit approaches, threats to our freedom of expression, and action, appear to be increasing rapidly.
Friend of BIM
More "friends" chime in:
Please I hope people have thought seriously about decentralising IMC UK so there is no chance it can be taken out during the G8 protests! It is a vital resource and those bastards will probably be trying to think up a way to disable it...

Also, I hope Scotland's imc server is safe!
Anony

The initial post is correct, and was posted onto UK IMC as BIM was down. Indeed it seems BIM is now being redirected direct to UK IMC - which is sensible. Regards the arrested BIM collective member, am informed the person has eventually turned up at...Trinity Rd (Bristol) police station! Due to be released 'tonight', charges, if any, unknown.
It is correct that BIM's server was home made/built, and was located in a BIM collective person's home, although that person (the arrested one) had not actually built it.

The struggle continues...
Friend of BIM

In the run-up to G8, Bristol Indymedia (BIM) has had it’s server seized by police. Recent press-releases released by the BIM collective are reproduced below. The person responsible for the latest repression against Indymedia is a Bristol-based part-time film-maker, and well-known local trouble-causer and liar, Mark ‘Zaskar’ Watson. Watson recently edited a film for CIRCA, the ‘Clown Army’, and runs his own website at www.zaskarfilms.com He is also well-known for hounding activists and filming them without their permission. While actually working as a nurse, Watson claims to be a journalist and NUJ member, something which is actually untrue, and if he possesses a press card as he claims, it is a forgery. Perhaps more importantly Watson is a former member of BIM, and since being thrown out of the BIM collective, for what he characterises on Urban 75 as sexism, he has waged a malicious campaign against BIM and his former colleagues, which has now reached rock-bottom.

The following is a rather incoherent post, which recently appeared on BIM:

stopping them in their tracks?

by s.p.RAY of freshair
alternative panel-beating for oxygen.
with the G8 on the horizon, we looked for a simple yet effective way to stick two fingers up to this oil-addicted society.we found one! a train that carries brand-new cars from portbury dock nr avonmouth through the avon gorge to ashton and bedminster to desperse at temple meads for the rest of the country. Some questions that came into our little minds were:is portbury dock fianancially-competative? [yes], who paid for the tracks and maintance from portbury to parson St bedminster?. has anyone ever seen a passenger train on this route?,and sitting on a hot coach because you can't afford hiked-up train fayres, you see yet more new cars you can't afford to buy being transported by rail,to consume more oil, that our enviroment can't take. So we did an oxygen-grab as a kind of work-out up to the summit.Lifting and then dropping rocks onto useless pieces of metal.[17/06/05] We are feeling fit now for the greedy-ate, we suggest others should take aim and practice. The forth-coming event around gleneagles will not automatically mean a head-on confrontation with the old-bill, they have more spiteful weapons than us, so let us side step them and unbalance them using our minds. good luck stay free, S.P. ray.

Nothing like derailing a train to make you feel big. I see why the British cops might take a dim view of this
Since Indymedia do not retain IP addresses it is not known who posted this, nor is there any evidence of any actual incident occurring. Nonetheless Mark Watson, a self-confessed long-standing police informer, used the posting as an excuse to escalate his campaign against BIM. Without making any attempt to first contact BIM, Watson phoned the police and spoke to DC 1062 Saysell of Temple Meads CID. Since the police routinely monitor Indymedia it is unlikely that they had not already seen the post above, but Watson informed them that he was a former member of the BIM collective, and alleged that BIM kept the IP addresses of contributors and that these could be obtained by seizing the server. He also gave the name, address and contact details of at least one BIM volunteer, including all their employment details.
I feel like buying Mark a drink
The details of Watson’s malicious and treacherous actions originally came out on the Urban 75 forum in which he initially, and characteristically, lied through his teeth, before proclaiming himself, “An unrepetent grass.” Coming under attack from other Urban posters, Watson, who posts under the name ‘Zaskar’ (and possibly other names), attempted to get his attackers to contact the police, and sent them private messages, asking them to telephone him (on 07861 287069.) Apparently, Watson, is well-known for doing this, and then alleging that people have threatened him.

It should be clear to anyone reading this that Mark ‘Zaskar’ Watson is a self-confessed police-informer, and a malicious individual, responsible for closing down Bristol Indymedia at a particularly crucial time, and for subjecting Indymedia vounteers to police harassment and action. As such, he has no place in our movement, and should at the very least be ostracised. Beware of the tout ‘Zaskar’.
----------
Whatever the legal case, the cops have now gone ahead and seized the
server. This differs from the recent instance when UK Indymedia's servers were seized from their 'host' Rackspace, as BIM have their own stand-alone server. This poster sincerely hopes they have some mirror servers to back it up! This poster is also trying to contact the rest of the BIM collective to discuss/find out what action can be taken to defend Indymedia.

As the G8 summit approaches, threats to our freedom of expression, and
action, appear to be increasing rapidly."

Red N Black

I would have expected this story to be picked up by the corporate media. That it is not reported suggests that a DA-notice has been applied to it. I suggest that people lay off Zaskar. It is unrealistic to assume that Bristol Indymedia was not regularly monitored by the police. Wouldn't they have seized the server regardless of whether Z contacted them?
MnK. Don't let the bastards get you down.

Bristol resident
They're coming to take you away, ha ha he he ho ho...
Posted by:Steve

#5  Ima like Carry Back. Purdy good in the rain.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-06-28 17:58  

#4  Tout?

Who's he like in the 5th race at Belmont?
Posted by: mojo   2005-06-28 15:27  

#3  Indymedia, worthless TRANZI drivel. All of them deserve an ass kicking. I hope the Peelers spread steel wool shavings over the MoBo before they return it.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom   2005-06-28 15:27  

#2  Apostasy will be punished severely.
Posted by: Seafarious   2005-06-28 15:19  

#1  I can see why he turned, being is expelled from the collective is worse than death.
Posted by: Shipman   2005-06-28 15:15  

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