Battle of the Beanfield

hii... i dunno if this is the right place to post this, probably not. but its all i can think of.

for uni, i'm doing a project on police violence, and misuse of their power against certain groups of people.

so i decided to work on the batlle of the beanfield, which happened at the stonehenge free festival in 1985.

i wanted to collect stories of what happened, so i was wondering if anyone had any experiences/photos of what happened??

thankyouuuuuuu

love

X-A-X

 

Too young for personal experience of it, but I wrote a poem a while back on it and the prevailing social climate that brought it about....

THE HIGHWAY


Manufactured faces, factory-line expressions, cast
Their gazes, averting eyes from strangers,
Transfer money, gulp their cups of caffeine,
Back to work. Cycle repeat.
It’s the modern way.

But from Avebury down to Glastonbury,
On the turnpikes and in the fields,
From the festivals and all-night raves, to the circles
At the stones; they looked for another life -
Stuck two fingers up to Starbucks,
And chose, not your way, but the highway!

Now you criminalize communities, travellers
Ain’t welcome, beat them on the Beanfield,
Tell us property’s not theft; well
Why do I feel robbed?
Criminal Justice? Where’s the justice?
Justice for the criminals in the Commons,
And your coffee-house bourgeoisie -
Is it a crime to want to LIVE?

I see the way you live -
Manufactured faces, factory-line expressions;
Imagination cannot be moulded!
Avert your eyes from strangers,
You stand alone.
Transfer money, capitalism running on coffee,
Your stock exchanges spin in circles,
I’m getting dizzy -
Let me off!
LET ME LIVE!

I’ll take the highway

http://www.laurahird.com/showcase/salmanshaheen.html

 

Theres a few videos on YouTube about the Beanfield:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSuPqJnhWuA

 

I know people who were there but they are pretty scattered about and mostly I meet them in the summer

 

hii...thanx for your replies.

peace-pheonix:- thats such a beautiful poem, i got goosebumps. thank you for sharing x x x

ripple:- i never thought of youtube! lol. i normally think of that first. thanx x

X-A-X

 

oo, I was going to start a thread on this! The levellers wrote a song about it...

 

Thanks, I'm glad you liked it

 

the best festival for me was Stonehenge free festival, which started in the 70s through to 1985 i used to attend every year from 79 to 85 when the powers that be sent in the boys in blue to smash up the peace convoy, the infamous battle of the bean field,is where i had my bus smashed up as did many of us who lived an travelled with the convoy,i had lived that way for 14 years.
Loads of us were arrested on that day around 500 im told, an all our vehicles were impounded. an the courts issued a charge of 'unlawful assembly'to everyone, that was the day when we realized that England had become a fascist police state.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIgFBV-iY8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRspJVpj4LY
http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-history-84.html

 

Meh

 

Just the whole thing. Pretty meh.

 

not quite sure what 'meh' means but it was an atrocity yes.