Cm No. 728 (Unruled) METROPOLITAN POLECE Reference . . to papers 11 .Nembley Police ..STATION . Registry Folio Ra Trade Dispute - Disorder/Arrests -- Grunwicl: Processing 10 .. l' . ,Aa, 24th June, 1977 T: .413 I CEAPTER ROAD . .. By 6.00am there were some 50 demonstrators present including 6 official pickets. As usual the official pickets were across the gateway and the rest dispersed pr0portionally on either side of the gate on the north footway and Opposite the gate on the south footway. Numbers were increasing rapidly consisting mainlyLof young white youths of both sexes. By 6.50am, the crowd had reached mood seemed one of immediate antagonism?ht ards poiice. EBY had risen to 1,200 most of whom were quite orderly and the APEX officials present had already given the official pickets armlets to wear. at 7.30am with the arrival of various contingents from a selection of trade councils and union bodies, numbers had now increased to 2,000 being dispersed as before but now stretching further along Chapter Road in both directions from the factory gate. Police were deplOyed in loose cordons and managed to contain the crowds on the otways. There were some rowdy elements in the crowd but, at this time the situation was quite orderly. At 8.00am the crowd still numbered 2,000 and now the section of demonstrators to the right of the gate were putting pressure on the police cordons. Double cordons were therefore introduced at this point. The major '.ty of this group to the right of the gate were identified by CH.Insp. . as being a faction of the Right to Work movement. ll?he latter began to be most belligerent and provocative towards the officers who formed the cordon in front of them, and they tried repeatedly, by exerting severe pressure, to break the cordon. Ch.Insp. . appealed to them for calm and restraint, but he was met with abuse from many of them who blamed the presence of the double cordon in front of them for the pushing and shoving that was going on. Several in this section of the crowd claimed that they had to push the police cordon forward as they had no room to stand on the footway. Ch.Insp. - and Insp. showed them areas at the rear of the group near the buildings where a lot of standing space was to be found. Insp. also appealed to this group for restraint and requested that they eased back in the space available behind them on the footway in order to safeguard other members of their group who were being squashed at the front. Insp. -was also given abuse,insulting gestures and they continued to press heavily on the police c0rdons. - Continued . . ?hi-m 7:23 (L'm'ulez i) 2 At 8.10am as this uneas* situation to the righ of the gate pc-sisted, an APEX off cial, Councillor Shaw and orcached and was shown the space avai- ble at the rear of this section of the crowd. All 3 were in agreement that this particular section of the crowd were trying needlessly to break the police cordons and at the same time provocatively blame police for the situation that had arisen. it 8.203m following another abusive response to Ch. Insp. - efforts to calm the crowd more reserves of police were deployed and a treble cordon was put to the right side of the gate in order to prevent possible disorder. More announcements were made by police and APEX officials in an attempt to lessen the tension but again these efforts were to no avail as this section of the crowd continued to push and probe at the police lines. Ch. Insp. At 8.30am about 200-300 demonstrators from the north and south footway moved off, some at speed, stating their intentions to go to Cooper Road in order 9% help stopaphe?arrival of the employees coach. In anticipation of this manonevre by the demonstrators, which has in the past was; resulted in incidents in both Dudden Hill lane and Cooper Road, a cordon was placed across Chapter Road about 50 yards west of Deacon and also at them? junction with Dudden Hill lane. A crowd formed in front of the first cordon but did not attempt to penetrate it. At 8.45am there was a further movement from the load towards the junction with Dudden Hill lane and th by the cordon across Chapter Road. Some people at th? police for preventing them joining the other demon tr- gateway area in Chapter -se too were held oint abused in Cooper Road. was in the ??men approached Eestbourne. The latter said to Commander""11'lhat is your justification for putting a cordon across the highway.? commander Sadler said to him "This cordon has been put here in the interest of preserving public order and preventing injuries I have nothing more to say". to members of public and the police. Commander then left-who appeared to want to argue the subject further. 5% outside the gate in Chapter Road the group Right to Honk a ors on the right of the entrance were continuing to put gevere the police cordons, and further appeals were made to then by and APEX officials to calm down and ease the tension. These appeals were ignored and individual officers in the cordon were punched in the back by persons unknown from this group no actual injuries taking place. The open aggression from this section of the crowd reached a climax when at 9.20am the' front ranks linked arms and called on other demonstrators across the street to attack the police lines. Ch.Insp. anticipating a serious breach of the peace decided to clear the antagonis ic elenent from this corner of the road and accordingly the police cordon was removed at one point to encourage their departure. The majority in this group continued to link arms and verbally threatened and abused the police lines. Ch.Insp. warned them not to obstruct him in the course of his duty otherwise they could well arrested. Extra police were fed in to the rear of this group in order to persuade them to move off peacefully. Noisily they refused and continued to link arms and hold their obstructive position. As the police behind the crowd eased forward scuffles broke out as the demonstrators turned on the Ileanwhi demonstr 0 Continued All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. +95 ?6n the north foctway across Chapter road N0. 5'29 \nJ Continued Arrests were made and for a short time all otter cordons came under preSsure. police -iros. in Chapter Road By 9.303m the rowdy element from the right of the rates had teen cleared and +he APEX officials present together with Councillor Shaw asked that their agreement with the police action taken be put on record. At 9.352m numbers of demonstrators were still about 1,800 but now although volatile were not disorderly in other ways. A police cordon had now been placed on the left of the gate, and by 9.40am the roadway had been cleared. it 9.45am the Commissioner, we McKee and other senior officers arrived to review the situation and was greeted by the crowd with verbal abuse. The Commissioner left after a few minutes. The numbers present were still in the region of 1,800 and a lot of tension was still evident although no actual disorder was taking place. wt? Between now and 10.00am numbers of the crowd decreased somewhat and by 10.10am numbers were 500 dispersed to the north and south footways, and policed by strong cordons. The employees coach arrived and entered the Chapter Road gate with comparative ease although again, the rowdier factions of the crowd did surge forward on to the police cordons but were contained. Eh'iler Lyon, was present at the arrival of the coach and he told the pickets that be allowed to-speah to the driver/employees if the latter were do so. stop on entry, but moved slowly on In fact the coach did not by and all its occupants showed that they were not disposed to speak rapidly to anybody on the picket line. By 10.15am the crowds had thinned and by 10.20am had reached?200. All was now quiet and police were withdrawn to leave.enough present to contain the number of demonstrators left. I they w0uld willing to .1- The numbers of demonstrators continued to decrease, and correspondingly so too did police in attendance until 1.00pm when there were 20 demonstrators including official pickets at this location. For the remainder of the afternoon numbers of demonstrators fluctuated between 3 and 20 and no untprard incident took place. Police presence was throughout ?apt to the ninimun required. it 5.30pm following in entry to the nremises. as usual, by the workers coach, the situation returned to normal. COOFER ROAD By 6.40am about 20 demonstrators were present, with official pickets in front of the gates and the rest dispersed on the south footway about 20 yards west of the factory -ind the police lines, which at this time were to the minimum. By 6.45am ushers had gradually increased and a an APEX official fr 5 Ligcrpool and one other official in charge fearing armbands were present at this time. So too were 35 delegates from the N.U.S.M.W., Rex Conveyors Limited, Swindon Works, the latter taking up a position en the south footway displaying a banner. By 7.00am those assembled were joined by about 150 demonstrators, the majority of whom were recognised by Ch.Supt. as being the rowdier element on previous days. On the permitted picks line were the organisers and with them a group of 10 men displaying a be .er with "South Wales Electrical Trades" thereon. it 7.05am, of APEX arrived with a bundle of arm bands. He was heard to instru the other officials present to hand them to any person who could satisfy the organiser with credentials Continued All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. is?. 1.. If 728* (Unwind) of their sembersnip to LIEK. Fthen left the location. r"'he ermbands were handed out to the 10 ten on is official picket line, none of whom were recognised by Ch.3upt. Evcrs. A large number of ermbands were handed out to those adjacent to the south footwey apparently on the basis of "First come - first served". This resulted unfortunately in some of the disorderly Froup previously mentioned having armbands as well. At this point Ch. Supt. informed the official pickets that they could move on to the north foo way when the workers bus arrived if they wished to peacefully communicate with the employees. The police officers in attendance at the gates were also informed of this arrangement by Ch. Supt. in the presence of and the pickets. By 7.30am 250 demonstrators were present without any untoward incident at this time. Other persons, apparently APEX personnel then began to arrive and collected armbands. at 7.45am an unidentified wonan in the crowd made an announcement criticising APEX for collaberating with the police. She was received with loud cheers from the crowd assembled. The pickets and the early arrivals immediately tore off their paper armbands and made token gestures by stamping on them. This was obviously a pre-arranged demonstration and resulted in no one near the Cooper Road gate wearing an armband. Ch.Supt. informed that the above incident should not affect the arrival of the workers bus and he referred who was clearly embarrased by the conduct of those around him to seek advice from at the earliest opportunity. Eventually found 10 genuine APEX members and placed them on the picket line. At 8.20am just before the arrival of the workers bus 5 Asian women joined the picket line having been advised by Ch.Supt. of the police arrangements by allowing them to speak to workers on the bus. One Asian woman said to Ch.Supt. in answer to his advice "Yes we know the form On arrival of the workers bus the official picket line did i5 fact, move voluntarily on to the north footway and spoke to workers slighting from the bus. They were in the main ignored but some workers did make defiant remarks. One of.the Asian female pickets became excited and spherently could not resist attempting to touch or prod one of the Asian emoloyees. This picket was gently restrained by an APEX official and a ublice officer. that if the work force and nickets out polica?in attendance there would no Ch. Supt'. -could sense the One noteworthy point observed by Ch.Supt. *was that about 20 of those people who had originally taken part in the armband destroying" demonstration were the same as those who were later arrested during the instances of disorder. One of the later pickets referred to this group as "socielist workers". It was quite evident to Ch.Supt. were allowed to come into contact wi doubt be some form of serious disorder. mutual hatred of both factions. Over this period of time, numbers of police were continually increased comnensurate with the build-up of demonstrators. By 8.05:m an estim=ted 1,000 persons were present in the south section of Cooper Road. The bulk of these demonstrators were spread out along the whole length of the south footway behind a police cordon. At about this time Ch.Supt. -notioed Continued All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. a a I flu] a l/f 5 190. It. (L, that about 100 demonstrators had taken up a position, virtually cordoning off th~ north section of Cooper Road at the junction with Dudden Hill lane. .4: This splinter group were immediately cmoved in an efficient and patient Ch.3upt. noted, as he manner by a unit of the . had done also throughout the fortnig?t of disorder the high standard of confidence and professionalism shown by all ranks of the about this time another group of abont 150 demonstrators were posing hreat to the freeraccess of the workers bus by blocking the earth section of Cooper Road at the junction with Dudden Hill lane. and this group of demonstreors were ivi and ontained on the loo we . rther police reserves were deployed to ensure free passage in and out of Cooper Road at Dudden Hill Lane. 8.00am workers pus was delayed on this dav -n aP?l "f?icial addressed the crowd on various matters neing 1A equipmen . The topics he covered included encouragement?to picket certain chemist shops who had apparently been sending?filns processing to Grunwicks and he also voiced the intention of the strike committee to visit P.C. the injured in hospital later that day. Mr Wright then went on to make an apparen serious and genuine appeal for demonstrators not to use violence in any way, and es cially not to carry or throw bottles (or any other objects, for that matter?f Ch.Supt. was impressed by the sincerity that was evident in Mr Wright's appeal as many such appeals had been made in the past but have also contained a degree of inuendo and sarcasm, normally bringing cheers and remarks from the crowd such as, "Don't been seen to throwibottles". Ch.Supt. noted that, on this occassion, the appeal was met with jeers from the socialist workers" who were nonetheless more subdued as a result of what Mr Hright had said. Just prior to the arrival of the workers bus, announced to this particular section of the crowd the detailed arrangements made for pickets to communicate with employees as they alighted from the bus. His address was met by cat?calls from the rowdier element of "socialist workers" but the majority of those assembled listened quietly. At 8.52am the workers bus arrived in Cooper Road and proceeded towards the gate by means of the south carriageway. It's approach was made without incident until it reached the end of the demonstrators nearest the gate when a sudden, ferocious surge forward by the "socialist worker contingent" carried the police cordon across the road and in front of the bus, denying it access to the gate entrance. They were partially contained by the reinforcement of the police cordon but with difficulty as the demonstrators linked arms and shouted for encouragement and support from others in the crowd. Appeals by police for them to move back were made over loud speakers but to no avail. Eventually, this section of demonstrators had to be forcibly removed from the crowd and many of them resisted violently. Several arrests followed. Gradually the bus was moved forward and the employees alighted whilst being spoken to by pickets. The bus was empty by 8.563m and left the scene at 8.58am. Attempts were made to impede the bus's departure, in particular an hysterical woman began claiming that the bus was reversing into and injuring a section of the crowd. This of course, was more fabrication and appears to be a tactic frequently adopted to inflame hostility against police. By 9.05am order was restored and large groups of the crowd dispersed quite quickly until at 9.30am there were only about 250 left and these were orderly and quiet. A number of the pickets were overheard to complain of the Jack of Continued All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary. 1UP. No. 729 (Unruled) Continued 6 support evident from miners and building workers, the appearance of whom had apparently been anticipated. . H: I. At 10.00 am the Commissioner attended COOper Road and spoke briefly to police officers, pickets and members of the crowd. His reception was noisy but with no open disorder. At 10.18 am numbers had fluctuated to around 300. Ja The numbers of pickets present thinned rapidly over the next few hours until by 2.00 pm, there were about 20 demonstrators including official pickets. The afternoon followed without incident although several vehicles used at the Cooper Road entrance met with only token picketing. By 5.30 pm all pickets had beei withdrawn from the CooPerllaRoad gate COBBOLD ROAD By 6.30 am police were in attendance but there were no pickets nor demonstrators either at the front of the building or at the rear. By 7.15 am 5 pickets had arrived at each side of the building, 2 of whom were wearing APEX armbands. The situation was very calm and orderly and only a few police officers were deployed at this stage. i At 7.55 am a coach arrived carrying 21 members of staff and entered without any disorder. By 8.00 am there were 20 demonstrators at the front (only one wearing official armband) and 5 at the rear. Again they were orderly. By 9.00 am these pickets had reduced to the usual 7 Asian women at the front and 2 at the rear. The situation continued like this until 1.00 pm when the number of pickets at the front of the building reduced to 6. For the rest of the day, the pickets at this location remained unchanged until at about 5.00 pm when they withdrew. There were no un ts at this location throughout the day- Continued All minutes to be numbered in consecutive order. Continue on other side if necessary.