Glasgow crackdown on teens

Glasgow never gets bored of moving its alternative teens around:

Cops crack down on youths going off the rails at Central

Glasgow Evening Times - Caroline Wilson - ‎Jun 19, 2009‎

YOUTHS loitering in large groups at Glasgow's Central station have been warned they will be forcibly removed by police.

Network Rail and British Transport Police are launching a crackdown at Scotland's busiest railway station after a spate of incidents of serious anti-social behaviour at weekends - including attacks on staff.

Police warned that any groups caught loitering on the station concourse will be broken up and moved on using legal dispersal powers.

The station has become a meeting point for groups of up to 250 young people, mostly black-clad goth teenagers, throughout Saturdays and Sundays.

Police say the problem has led to several incidents of staff being verbal and physically abused and damage to station property.

Rail bosses say the crowds are also intimidating passengers and causing congestion in the concourse at exits and entrances.

Under railway bylaws, Network Rail and police have the power to disperse any group loitering on station property without an intention to travel or use the shops.

David Simpson, Network Rail's route director for Scotland, said: "The safety and well-being of station users is our paramount consideration.

"We will remove any group whose behaviour or presence is deemed inappropriate to the station environment or a risk to the travelling public.

"While we would prefer not to have to use our legal powers, we have been left with little option but to do so, due to the increasing numbers of people and their bad behaviour.

"We are not targeting any one age group, or social group, and will apply our legal rights to anyone loitering without a proper purpose or acting in an intimidating or inappropriate manner."

Some of the comments on the article make interesting reading:

Yes, the concourse gets packed with kids at the weekend, with lots of Goths/emo types, but I always found them to be the complete opposite of neds.

Sure it gets crowded and its clear its a meeting point for them, but they aren't the least bit intimidating and I've never seen any anti-social behaviour.

I doubt that it's this group that are responsible for the anti-social behaviour and crime and its a shame that they get tarred with this brush through a blanket ban.

Even though I often had to swerve round them and their gawkiness, skin conditions, rather unflattering cut of their trousers and exaggerated show-off cameraderie makes me glad my teenage years are behind me, I shall miss them.

It's mainly adults, often middle aged, that I see weaving around, arguing with each other and completely drunk.

Alternative youth stopped from gathering in Liverpool

This article indicates the police in Liverpool are targeting Alternative youth just for gathering in one place....just as in Glasgow, Bristol, Leeds etc etc. As our previous articles on have shown alternative youth frequently gather together not only for social reasons but because of fear of attack:

Give us a place to go
Liverpool Echo, UK - 29 Apr 2008

Apr 29 2008 by Janet Tansley, Liverpool Echo

PICTURE the scene: a group of girls sitting on a bench in St John’s Gardens, talking, staring at boys in skinny jeans, doing usual friends stuff ...

Now, what’s wrong with that?

Apparently some people do think there’s something wrong with it because we’re no longer allowed to do it.

Every Saturday my friends have hung around at the Pier Head. We’re from different parts of Liverpool, so town is easy for everyone. One quick bus or train and you’re there, with a day to spend with your mates.

Apparently, all the teenagers of Liverpool thought so, too.

The Pier and the Courts were the places all the emos, the goths, the metal-heads – anyone of an alternative persuasion – could just hang out and be themselves.

Then, of course, the Pier had building work (or whatever’s going on) and we were left with the question: ‘Where to now?’

The Pier and the Courts were out of everyone’s way, so it wasn’t like we were disturbing people. We could hardly set up camp outside Argos, further into town, could we? Everyone started migrating to the Courts or the Gardens, so it seemed we were okay for space.

And then somebody decided: ‘Oh no, we can’t have kids having fun in a public place where they’re allowed to be.’

And suddenly the Courts always had police telling us to move on, that we couldn’t stay there. The same went for the Gardens.

Where are we supposed to go now?

We’re not even allowed to hang out outside Burger King anymore while our mates are getting food (the Burger King staff kick you out if you aren’t eating, even if you’re with people who are).

There’s a policeman threatening to arrest us just for hanging around, telling us to go to a park near our homes (even though we’d just explained we were from all parts of Liverpool), naming a load of dodgy parks and public areas and telling us that these were the places kids our age should be hanging out.

Why? So we can all be attacked and then no-one has to worry about where we are then?

Afflecks palace to go?

It seems likely that Afflecks Palace is like Leeds corn Exchange in serious trouble as higher rents push out alternative stalls as has been on the cards for a long time. There are last minute talks but if this is resolved favourably Manchester will have achieved something Leeds and Camden failed to do:

Afflecks talks on hold
Manchester Evening News, UK - Jan 25th
TOWN hall-mediated talks over the future of Afflecks Palace have been postponed for 24 hours - with the centre's landlords and managers holding further discussions in private.

Bosses from the shopping emporium were due to meet landlords Bruntwood in public yesterday in a bid to thrash out a deal to save it from closure.

The future of the centre - and its 100 stalls - has been hanging in the balance since the original lease ran out in June.

Traders fear a huge hike in rents that could accompany a new agreement would put them out of business. But Bruntwood wants the dilapidated building to be refurbished and insists that the costs of any future improvements should be covered by the lease.

Negotiations have broken down several times and Afflecks founder and manager Elaine Walsh warned traders they could be given notice to quit by the end of this month.

8000 behind Afflecks battle
Manchester Evening News, UK - 23 Jan 2008
TRADERS at Afflecks Palace have collected 8000 names on a petition to save the iconic Manchester emporium from closure. The lease at the shopping centre .


Smells Like Teen Spirit
Manchester Confidential, UK - 21 Jan 2008

Protesting ought to be a sport reserved for the young – they look a damn sight edgier and cooler doing it.

Hundreds of angst-ridden pubescent teenagers stampeded to the rescue of Manchester’s landmark shopping centre Afflecks Palace on Saturday. Cars beeped their horns as squeaky girls chanted “Save Afflecks” at decibels that could be heard over at Piccadilly Gardens.

The protest not only demonstrated a huge amount of support but the array of fabulously experimental and individual clobber with which the kids kitted themselves out also illustrated what a fundamental impact Afflecks has had on youth culture over its 26 years in residence.

Music legends back Afflecks
Manchester Evening News, UK - 18 Jan 2008
THE campaign to save Afflecks Palace has been backed by some of Britain's biggest music legends.

Leeds corn Exchange closed

The Guardian has noted the ongoing attack on diverse shops in the UK in the recent closure of Leeds Corn Exchange which is combined with demonisation of alternative subcultures from local authorities. (See previous post on this.) It doesn't mention the recent moves in Glasgow, Camden Market or Bristol though. There has been a massive protest about the plans:

Experts ask: 'Is Leeds going in the right direction?'
Yorkshire Evening Post, UK - Dec 18, 2007
"The Kirkgate Market and the Corn Exchange are both icons of the Leeds landscape, truly unique results of the city's history. The plans currently tabled for ...

Save the Corn Exchange Effectively Leeds Corn Exchange now forms part of a property portfolio of one of Zurich’s .... Sign a petition to Save the Corn Exchange in one of the shops ...


The contract by the new owners Zurich Assurance banning Goth/Metal/fetish shops is an amazing new low especially considering Leeds was at the forefront of establishing goth back in the 80s:

Guardian - Comment is free: Exchange or refund

This month's closure of Leeds Corn Exchange is the latest blow to be struck against individuality in the name of regeneration.

The shopping centre - whose independent traders specialise in alternative fashion and curiosities - is being turned into an "international food emporium" by its leaseholder Zurich Assurance and the traders have been given until January 14 to leave.

The firm has yet to secure new tenants but promises a huge range of upmarket foodstuffs, plus a branded "statement" restaurant.

It claims the changes are essential to recoup £1.5m of refurbishment costs but traders suspect their wares and clientele - students, teenagers, goths and emos - are surplus to requirements in shiny, regenerated Leeds.

Last year the youths who loiter outside the centre were threatened with dispersal orders and asbos, and shop contracts specifically ban the sale of gothic, pagan or fetish clothing or accessories.

The surrounding Exchange Quarter is the centre of the city's vibrant alternative scene - gritty, grubby and full of cutting-edge nightspots, vintage shops and tattoo parlours. Elsewhere, the bland chain stores, dull chain bars and prestige department stores reign supreme. The evicted traders are struggling to find new premises in the booming city, where rents have leapt fourfold in a few years and vacant units are in short supply. Some will quit Leeds, while others are looking for jobs.

The plans have prompted some to question the direction of Leeds' regeneration and the squeezing out of quirky, independent shops and those whose lifestyles don't fit the norm.

Similar things are happening in other cities, where individuality is being crushed by profit-driven big business, intent on sleek, gentrified spaces and products that attract the "right sort" of consumer.

Quiggins, a legendary Liverpool hippy emporium that was home to 50 stalls, fell victim in 2006 to a massive regeneration scheme linked to the European capital of culture preparations.

Campaigners in Birmingham are fighting the planned closure of the Fiveways Centre - home to a progressive publishing company and a Fairtrade music venue - by its owners Mars Pension Trustees.

The future of Manchester's bohemian Afflecks Palace is uncertain. Stallholders have been in limbo since their leases ran out in June and any hike in rents - on what is a prime site - could put many out of business. London's Queens Market is also fighting for its survival.

Critics claim Leeds is on its way to becoming a soulless "clone town" peopled by wealthy yuppies and corporations - and with few spaces where citizens of all classes, ethnicities and ages can mingle. Their fears are compounded by plans to redevelop the city's Kirkgate Market.

In an open letter, 14 academics specialising in urban regeneration warned the drive to open exclusive retail centres is stripping away its character. They wrote:

"Gentrification by its very nature actively works against efforts to narrow the gap. It also erodes what is left of the public realm.

In the obsession to compete with other cities, to go up a league and be the Barcelona of the north, Leeds is in danger of simply becoming a 'clone city', a place like anywhere else.

And a clone town promotes clone people. As the city changes shape, there is a real danger that it actually narrows the type of people that it attracts."

Their warning should be heeded by other cities, where corporatised developments continue to suck the life from independent enterprise and leach away individuality.

The key to effective regeneration must be safeguarding a town's uniqueness, public spaces and sense of local identity - and small businesses are a vital part of that. This, surely, is exactly what makes many continental cities so special.

Leeds Corn Exchange under threat

Following the loss of Camden market and the threat to Manchester's Affleck's palace now Leeds Corn Exchange is under threat. Similar problem to the Glasgow event noted recently. Particularly interesting is the police campaign against alternative youth highlighted by this article:


http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/11/386716.html

As most people form Leeds know, the Corn Exchange plays a major part in the city's youth alternative culture and has done for decades. On any day you'll see goths, punks, emo kids and just general teenagers meeting there, making new mates, getting along and having fun.

POLICE ASBO'S DEEPER SECRET?
Just over a year ago the owners of the building (Eagle Star Life Assurance / Zurich) and the centre management (Phoenix Beard) pressurised West Yorkshire Police, who were far from reluctant to act, to get rid of this young community through months intimidation; ranging from placing dozens of police officers outside the centre each weekend, arresting people for standing in the 'wrong place' and serving Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) on kids for doing what kids do. They have also tried a smear campaign telling people that the Corn-X is a hotspot for drugs and underage drinking when this is infact far from the truth. At first the police and owners claimed the reasoning for their actions was that people gathering outside were intimidating those shopping there, but this didn't wash because it is a fact that most of the custom of shops inside comes from the youth who meet outside. Now it's appearing that the police smear campaign was just to try and get rid of the young community outside so the sale of the building can go ahead and the Corn-x can be redeveloped as a posh food emporium.


LEEDS ALTERNATIVE SCENE AT THREAT
The Corn Exchange is central to the alternative scene in Leeds due to it's high profile; it is one of the only places teenagers in the city hang out and keep entertained by friends instead of going off with a few mates and drinking in parks, or being reckless. Without it many people would lose friends they have seen on a weekendly basis; as well as the tight community where there is a large range of people from all different walks of life. If someone has something to talk about, there is always someone of their own age there who can help and even share experiences.


SMALL TRADERS WILL SUFFER
The stores inside the centre have been given until January to find an alternative premises, or face closure. These shops are small traders and cannot afford to move and pay the expensive rent for the other places in Leeds City Centre; and aside from the money aspect there is a lack of empty premises in town as they are all being bought out by large retailers - this is also another contributor to the rise in costs for renting space. Either way these shops will have to close down which will have an effect on the local economy, as well as the customers who shop there as due to many of the stores being specialist traders. Not only shops inside the Corn-X will suffer, but many of the alternative stores in the vicinity will lose a large amount of custom as they are a tight community of traders; not forgetting that there will be a lack of customers around for them...

Similar points are made elsewhere and in this protest video from 2006 which shows the feelings of locals:

Corn Exchange demonstration against exclusion order

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Youth Comment - James Roberts - 01/04/2006 - Communitycare.co.uk ...

Glasgow - Alternative teens banned from public place

Following the recent events in Blackburn, Glasgow is the latest city in which alternative youth is facing harassment from the authorities.

---

Scotsman.com News - Scotland - Goma goths banned - heaven knows they're miserable now

Sun 9 Dec 2007
MARC HORNE (mhorne@scotlandonsunday.com)

WITH their black clothes, white faces and mournful expressions they have become an instantly recognisable part of life in Scotland's city centres.

But now Glasgow's goths have a genuine reason to look miserable. City leaders have branded them a threat to economic prosperity and have launched a bid to bar them from their favourite hangout.

For years dozens of outlandishly dressed youngsters have made Glasgow's Royal Exchange Square in the city centre their second home.
But now the council has accused them of intimidating shoppers and being behind a rise in anti-social behaviour.

In a bid to move the youngsters on they have cordoned off steps between Borders bookshop and the Gallery of Modern Art (Goma) - a favourite goth gathering point. Security guards have been brought in to supervise the area. A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: "Royal Exchange Square is one of the jewels in Glasgow's crown.

"In recent months, however, there has been the risk of the Square, and in particular the steps at the western end, becoming a focus for anti-social behaviour.
In consultation with businesses in the Square it was decided to cordon off the steps.

"This measure will remain in place for as long as is necessary to ensure it remains one of the country's premier locations for shopping and entertainment."

A council insider said: "Royal Exchange Square is a gateway between our premier shopping locations and, as such, is incredibly important to us.

"We need it be a nice, safe area for the people who are walking through it. We have had complaints about teenagers gathering there and there were allegations about drinking, drug-taking and inappropriate behaviour. So far the measures we have taken seem to have helped."

But youngsters who are refusing to leave the area, which is full of exclusive shops and eateries, claim the council's tactics were heavy-handed, discriminatory and unnecessary. One teenage girl said: "There is absolutely no way we are here to cause trouble.

"We are too young to go to the pub and we hang around here for the simple reason that we have nowhere else to go to chat and meet up with our friends.

"It's laughable that Glasgow City Council regards us some sort of threat to society simply because we choose to dress differently."

Her purple-haired friend added: "There are so many real problems with violence in Glasgow yet the city council is spending money sending security guards to intimidate groups of well-behaved teenagers.

"I suppose they see us as an easy target. We are meant to be the friendly, welcoming Commonwealth Games city, but we are clearly not welcome here."

The alternative teenage tribes of Royal Exchange Square, including punks, emo-kids and metal-heads, have become such a part of the city life that in 2003 they were featured in a BBC documentary entitled Glasgow's Goth Kids. Work created by the youngsters has been displayed at the nearby Goma.

Last year a study conducted by Dr Dunja Brill concluded that goths were largely sensitive youngsters who eschewed violence and were more likely to get good grades and go on to higher education.

Isn't enough that alternative people have to face abuse from thugs that they must be targeted by the authorities for simply existing? If individual people are misbehaving then what about the laws which exist to deal with individuals? CCTV covers the square after all. Why target a group as a whole? If you feel strongly about this try complaining to Councillor Steven Purcell.

Leader of Glasgow City Council - Scottish Labour Party
Email: steven.purcell@councillors.glasgow.gov.uk

There is a long history of similar issues in relation to the square.

Art chiefs' bid to get rid of Goths

Daily Record Feb 7 2003

ART gallery bosses tried to scare off gangs of Goths with classical
music. But it backfired on them as the youngsters - fans of shock-rockers
such as Marilyn Manson and Slipknot - discovered an unexpected taste for
Vivaldi.

Even more of them turned up at their meeting place outside Glasgow's
Gallery of Modern Art as the classical tunes blasted from its windows.

Gallery bosses took action because they believed the Goths
congregating in Royal Exchange Square were scaring off art-lovers.

The Goths also got into the building and took over the toilets to do
their distinctive make-up and hairstyles. Graffiti was daubed over the outside of the building and there were violent clashes with rival gangs of "neds".

The gallery set up patrols in the square and removed benches but
hundreds of youngsters still congregated outside.

Assistant curator Clare McLeod said they then resorted to playing
music they thought would annoy their unwelcome visitors.

She said: "We decided to blast Vivaldi at full volume from windows
above their heads to sicken them but they actually seemed to enjoy it in the
end.

"There are several hundred kids around here at the weekend and the
numbers certainly didn't decrease so we had to eventually think of different
ways to solve our problem.

"Our intial reaction was to get rid of the kids or move them along but
in the end we had to rethink."

The gallery has now invited the Goths to workshops and set up an
exhibition entitled Nu, which pays tribute to the Goth culture.

A focus group was also established in the gallery library so the Goths
could offer ideas about what they'd like to see there.

TV producer Tanya Cheadle, who has made a BBC1 documentary on the
Goths which will be shown next week, said: "We found them intimidating and
people wanting to get into the gallery were put off, so the steps they took
were perfectly valid.

"But I think the story ends on a very positive note. The exhibition
shows the children are threatening in appearance but are very much an art
form themselves."

Alterophobia's research has revealed that similar moves have recently occurred in Bristol as well. More on this later.

Links to the events mentioned:

Glasgow Needs Youth! Gallery Of Modern Art Gives Kids A Chance ...

Lion Television . Productions . Glasgow's Goth Kids

Derelict-Day of the Lost - Alternative Weekender suuported by Liverpool Capital Of Culture

The Liscard Alternative has been given a grant as part of Liverpool Capital Of Culture 2008 Celebrations. For a Subculture Day/Alt Festival called Derelict-Day of the Lost (in memory of Sophie Lancaster and all Alts and LBGTs that have lost their life in the past year).

"Feb 2008- Derelict-Day Of The Lost: a WEEKENDER of discos,bands and stalls in Wallasey!! The aim of this big gig is for awareness and Remembrance for the alternative and TG community who are no longer with us due to bullying, bullycides and fatal attacks, and for animals suffering cruelty, who also have no voice. The weekender covers: goth rock metal cyber emo skater biker rivethead 80s punk LBGT etc etc etc...

The Liscard Alternative is a charity (based unsurprisingly in Liscard in Wallasey) to provide a drop in, media,culture,lifestyle/lifeskills,advice and retail facility for all young persons aged 11-25 who are being bullied or getting abuse for the way they dress and/or their sexuality. This remit covers Alt kids and LGBTs mostly,but anyone who is suffering bullying and abuse is welcome to come along. We have a community bank account with Barclays who are very supportive of our project."

They are also hosting regular fund-raisers and trying to establish a local alternative/LGBT centre. More details at their livejournal and myspace pages.

Blackburn - Goths and emos found a place to go

After all the earlier Blackburn fuss in October about the "dangers" of goths, metalers and emos on the streets alternative venue The Cellar Bar and pub The White Rose are now offering them a place to hang out safely. Much kudos to the managers/landlords involved.

It was Doddy who commented on the SOPHIE campaign page:

"i dont know if you know , maybe its old news but two pubs in blackburn town centre shut their doors to over 18's on a saturday afternoon to let in the goths n emos or whatever to give em somewhere to go , form 12 til 6 i think . one week it is the white bull and the next is the cellar bar . i think these landlords/ladys should be applauded for their actions because i presume that they will be losing a bit of cash by stopping serving alcohol."

Manchester - Urbis

Interesting article from a few years ago.

BANNED FROM SHOPS.. BECAUSE SHE'S A GOTH - News - Mirror.co.uk:

"BANNED FROM SHOPS.. BECAUSE SHE'S A GOTH By Daniel Boffey 07/06/2005 TEENAGER Melissa Fletcher was banned from a shopping centre because of her Goth fashion. Security guards stopped the 16-year-old at the entrance, saying her dyed red and black hair, pierced lip and black clothes would put shoppers off buying. Yet Melissa had no trouble getting in earlier that day when accompanied by her mum. Melissa was with two 16-year-old friends at the Triangle complex in Manchester city centre. Advertisement Her mother Sharon, 34, of Denton, Greater Manchester, said yesterday: 'Melissa does not drink, smoke or take drugs. 'She knows what is right and what is wrong but dressing differently is no reason to be singled out. 'Melissa had money in her pockets to spend but she did not even get through the front door. 'The security guard told me later that he was under strict orders not to let them in because of the way they looked....'"

The Triangle continue their policy today making life hard for some as they are next to Urbis - Cathedral square the main teen alternative hangout in Manchester. The teenagers meet there to catch up withfriends and also to seek safey in numbers to avoid assault. Nevertheless local alternative teens can face fights in the area it is not unknown for large groups of thugs to come there looking for a fight. The irony is that the Triangle was formerly Manchester Corn Exchange a place full of alternative shops but after the IRA bomb in 1997 it was redeveloped into another mainstream shopping area.

See the posts on Blackburn for a similar problem today and the post about the dispersal order at Bristol College Green .

Bristol College Green - Teenagers banned

We have mentioned before the importance of areas for alternative teenagers to hang out in and the tendency for authorities to try and harass and destroy this. A perfect example of this is the College Green saga in Bristol where this summer the Council imposed a group dispersal order arousing much protest from local goths, emos and skaters. On Saturday 21st July, a protest took place against the dispersal order and around 80 people attended.

Sensible questions were asked by those affected by the order. An example is this letter sent to the Bristol Evening Post by 14 year old Ellie Vowles which sums up the importance of the area for those who use it:

My friends and I do nothing wrong. We cause no trouble. We are generally peaceful, don't drink and don't do drugs or bother people, just like most of the others who go to the area. We are really quite a close community in many ways. Its only a small minority that cause problems and some people go to the green just to pick on those who look different. I do hope that the order itself wont be used to pick on young people who look different too. Lets remember that drinking, drug taking and violence are a regular problem inside and outside of the pubs and clubs in Bristol every weekend and that these are certainly not problems caused by 'skateboarders, goths, grungers and emos'.

There has been and always will be people who are different and look different who want to gather to meet in groups. Because they are identifiably different - say they are black, or gay, or disabled or scarred by accident or have long hair, flares and flowers in their hair, or like to wear black and dye their hair red, or whatever - should not mean that they can be moved on just because they gather in a place. Generally, people should be allowed to be themselves, no matter what people say, though they may be feared, often due to ignorance and misunderstanding. There aren't many safe places, like College Green with its CCTV, in central Bristol for young people to gather and meet.

Read more here:

Be yourself - no matter what they say!

There was a belated response from the politicians as a result. This included a question in Parliament :

Then Bristol West’s Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams pitched in at the end of July with a statement in parliament no less (that was badly misquoted in The Cancer). He told the Minister for Children, Young People and Families, Beverley Hughes in response to her announcement of a 10 year ‘Aim Higher’ strategy for young people:

“I hope that the statement is the welcome start of a departure from some of the language of the Tony Blair era, namely the language of marching children to cash points, the language of dealing with feral youth and the the language of imposing dispersal orders on young people, such as the fatuous dispersal order imposed on skateboarders in my constituency this week.”

Ms Hughes weakly responded: “Many young people suffer from such [anti-social] behaviour and we need to protect them and demonstrate to them that they are part of our consideration.”

More details here:

Is Bristol run by the cops? « The Bristol Blogger

Another local MP addressed the issue too:

Kerry questions College Green dispersal order

Even the local Radical Hisory Sociey got involved having a demo raising some interesting parallels with earlier events:

This summer the police without warning served a 'dispersal order' on College Green and the surrounding area for the period of the school holidays. The order means that if two or more people gather together then, they can be moved on by the Police. Ostensibly, the order was aimed at the skateboarders and other youth who have customarily gathered on College Green for many years. No reasons were given initially for the order, but we can imagine that the effect on tourism would have been sited [6] (College Green is a an historic site, with the Cathedral, Council House etc.) along with the usual complaints of the wealthy and powerful Clifton 'mafia'.

The youth reacted in style with a demonstration or two and an active media campaign protesting against the order [7]. The authorities seemed unable to come up with the real reasons for their actions, except a feeble media campaign which vaguely referred to fighting and drug use. Even a Bristol MP [8] advised the Police to talk to people first before imposing such orders, but they didn't appear to be in the mood to debate with the Bristolians using the area!

We wuz robbed!

If they had engaged in a debate, then the authorities would have found out some important facts. Namely that there was serious resentment already amongst the skateboard community because of the cynical last minute rejection by the Council of the fully-funded plan for a skateboard park next to Castle Park. Of course, within months the whole area had been handed over to property developers [9]. The skateboarders were thus resigned to staying at College Green. That was until the authorities decided to remove that public space as well, by serving the dispersal order.

Despite the current media climate of viewing many young people as 'scum' (or even wanting to 'hug' them), no one is pointing out that they are Citizens like anyone else. Citizens have the right to go into the centre of their city, full stop. The authorities are trying to impede them and their right to free movement. This is wrong. If people commit a crime then the Police can arrest them, but these exclusion orders are a different kettle of fish. They criminalize our citizens and create division, fear and distrust. As one skateboarder put it 'if skateboarding is anti-social, they would have to put dispersal orders everywhere' [10]. It may not be too far into the future that this might be the case.

The history of Brandon Hill gives us an understanding of the use of legal and physical means to control and modify public space in our cities. The lessons are clear, if the customary practices of the population can be impeded or stopped then they will lose their cultural power over the spaces they inhabit. We only have to look at the sanitised and 'class' cleansed park that Brandon Hill has become to see that. There are, however, echoes of the historical resistance of the Brandon Hill mob and the Chartists amongst the Bristol Citizens that are fighting to keep College Green open to all.

Read more: Brandon Hill

Compare this to the problems elsewhere like:

Manchester - Urbis