P. i No. 723 (Unruied) i METROPOLITAN POLICE i7 [cohm_mnmUWMWm erence to papers 1977 I if. 1 ?gwa Folio . Re TRADE DISPUTE GEUNWICK EBOCESSING LIMITED Commander A8 INDEXED lm'? 6.00am few appeared Asian pickets were CHAPTER ROAD picketing from including 5 After advice Although the call was for before 6.13am and by 6.40am, present all in the gateway. There was a steady build up to 7.30am whenfapproximately 800 were present, 300 to right of gate, 250 to;left and the remainder on south footway. All were under a light police corden a were orderly. At 7.40am at the request of represent tives, who although not positively identified appeared to be Marxist or similar group, 200 moved to Cooper Road. From this time until 7.55am those present nu were addressed by two unknown men using PA equipment. The -content'of the speech of the first man was, "Men with on theLr shoulders are nothing but uniformed thugs. Their We aim to find out who They are only used for terrorists and the only Willesden are the Willesden Police. one of them we will put in then. if they want a fight." The content of the action generally. picketing. Then he said, looked into by police. enquiry because fucking terrorists in to do. footway broke momentarily. Two men carrying a trade 1 organisation banner ran in a dangerous manner from the North 3 footway in front of the coach and were pulled away by Police. 5 Extra cordons were placed around the coach to protect employees who alighted and made their way on foot through police cordons through the gateway and entered the premises safely. Strenuous efforts were made by most of those present to breach cordons. i No,ne person was arrested for threatening behaviour although many more would have been justified. undertaken to avoid the serious risk of injury to Police By 8.4Cam the numbers reduced to 300 and by 9.40am to 200. All were reasonably peaceful during this time. At 10.20am there were 20 present including ficial pickets and by 10.53am this increased to 0 inc uding official ickets in the gateway. Messrs. 'tt M.Ps wer present. They remained for about I minu es and Mr John Gorst, MP was seen during the arrival of the employeestoach. At 12.15pm the 20 present included the official pickets in the gate, but allwas quiet. This situation continued through to 4.50pm when those present increased to 25 including 4 official pickets, all were orderly. By 5.15pm those present including official pickets numbered 40. These were noisy during the departure of the employees coach at 5.40pm. There was a gradual drift away and at 6.30pm employees'coach departed, those left were noisy but orderly. Betw the police presence was reduced to nd officers when the situation returned to normal. COOPER. ROAD At 6.00am two official pickets were present and there was a minimum police presence. By 6.30am the numbers including official pickets,were 10 and by 7.00am were 40. At 7.15am was in charge of pickets and in the total absence of usual Asian female pickets he was asked by Chief Superintendent- if they were expected. - indicated that they were too frightened to attend. The crficial picket now comprised of one APEX official and 4 others across the gate, supported by the 40 others present. The pickets agreed with Chief Superintendent that when employees arrived that they would move to the west footway and attempt peacefully to persuade those to join the strike. At 7.40am senior APEX Organiser and Scots APEX official wou 1 entify himself as ?from Preston were present. latter remained as the APEX official re resentativ and left. Shortly after this time an APEX official attended and remained at Cooper . The man addressed the crowd with PA equipment and directed their positions in order to extend police presence to the maximum, but not specifically against Chief Superintendent! request. The demonstrators were contained on the east si the road by a light police cordon with four official pickets across the gateway. 3J1 minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. No. 729 fl'urule-ri} 3y 8.90am numbers increased to 450, but were still mainly voung white males and females. They were peaceful but tensehranticipating the arrival of the employees coach. No coach arrived but it was evident that the crowd believed that the coach had failed to enter Chapter Road entrance. They continued to await its arrival at Cooper Road in high anticipation. At 8.30am Jack Dro ey, Secretary of the Brent Trades Council using PA addresse assembly, criticising police and Roy Grantham, the Secretary of APEX for his public call to limit the number to 500. An unidentified man, but known to be a resident in Cooper Road and a member of the Electricians Union, spoke without PA. He was a good intelligent speaker, he criticised Grunwicks and residents of Cooper Road who, be claimed, were getting up a petition in support of the police. He was particularly vitriolic about the role of the police in Brent referring to Police/ Community Relations, coloured people and the handling of the trade dispute. then addressed the crowd and mentioned the anticipated attendance of Miners on Wednesday, Engineers on Thursday, Building Workers on Friday. By 8.55am reduce to 80 including official pickets, all was ui t. North Kensington Law Centre in .the crowf??t?? this time he er was a one time member of*committge of Metro Youth Club during the history of the disorder in the early 1970's. Bf 9.54am the numbers reduced to 100 including 6 official pickets who were across the gateway, they were quite orderly and under of light police cordons. By l0.00am these were joined by another 50 persons. In anticipation of the arrival of the employees coach, the pplice cordon strengthened. At 10.03am the coach arrived and stoppedibetween police cordon and the west footway, its front near the gate. Police cordons cametunder severe pressure. There was some delay in opening Two bottles wane thrown, one smashed on the ground, causing no injury and one hit the coach, causing no damage. An arrest,was made. Individual police officers were attacked by some sections of the crowd and for two or three minutes thpre was quite a serious disorderly situation. Whilst the coach was stationary some individuals broke through the police ranks, hammered and kicked the coach, but caused no damage. The situation was generally contained by the police. When the gates were opened to admit the employees, the 6 official pickets stood firm across the gate at arms length. They were warned by Commander and Chief Superintendent that their actions were now going beyond peaceful picketing and that they were entitled merely to speak to those entering. showed no sign of moving and were told that should they maintain their position they would be moved by police onto the footway. They determindly remained with arms linked and were removed with minimum force by Commander and two officers. They continued to link arms and in consequence a couple fell to the ground but sustained no injuries. They took up position on the west footway close minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. Mumm.v . Ho. 7'29 (Unrulmi) :o the gate calling to employees as they debussed and soliciting support for strikers. They were totally ignored by the employees who although they entered the premises safely, were clearly shaken and in some cases, obviously afraid. By 10.30am, the crowds started to disperse when someone shouted that plain clothes police officers were at the rear of the crowd. A plain clothes officer was determindly jostled by a section of the crowd who became very aggressive and uniformed officers were deployed to restore order. Three arrests were made. The crowd was by now 120. 10.50am, the numbers reduced to 40 and all was quiet. At 11.35am a man having been kept under observation and seemed to be using threatening behaviour was arrested and a disorderly situation commenced. Fortunately, this was resolved when a rumour started that there was some incident of interest in Dudden Hill Lane and the majority of the crowd started to disperse in that direction in an excited state. They were followed leisurely down by police and no incident of interest being seen, the crowd drifted away without any I encouragement from police. By 11.40am the usual 6-8 Asian female pickets appeared and sat on the wall of Number 28. By 12.17pm, only 5 official pickets present. At 4.05pm these nickets COBBOLD ROAD At 6.30am, no pickets or demonstrators were present at the front or rear. 7.00am, 4 Asian pickets appeared at the front. Between 7.00am and 7.05am 3 company vans arrived, they were not challenged. By now there were 3 pickets at the rear. At 7.35am, 9 Asian demonstrators with banners were present. At 7.57am an employee's bus arrived to shouts of 'Scab' and other abuse. There was no physical interference. There were 4 pickets at the rear. Senior APEX Organiser attended between 8.10am and 8.15am. By 9.30am there were 12 at front and 3 at the rear. Most were adult Asians, with in charge of pickets. At 11.30am 7 Asian woman official pickets were present. There were none at the rear. 3.00pm. 10 official pickets were at the front. Four the rear. 4.00pm? 8 and 3 pickets respectively. 5.15pm. no persons at front, 2 at rear. All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary.