Paganarchy Press

Hoorah!

As I reported in my note on the Strathclyde Police Slumber Party, I was arrested in Glasgow on July 8th, 2005. I was taken in to custody, quite literally for hugging a fairy.

What did you say?

I said I was arrested for hugging a fairy. Yeah that's right -

It was an extremely peaceful protest, and part of the manifestation against the G8 leaders who meeting up there. I was a clown at the time and one of the things I do best as a Rebel Clown is de-escalate violent and tense situations. Now of course, sometimes tense situations are called for, and I stay clear of them, but often the tension comes from hot-headed police looking for (or expecting) a fight. Being a clown lets me get away with a hell of a lot more than when I'm a civilian. Unparallel levels of foolish cheek abound!

In the morning, I had taken part in Operation Splish Splash Splosh [indymedia] which was an extremely fun and fluffy occupation of a Shell service station. One reason for the extreme levels of fluffiness was that there had been about 50 civilians killed in London the day before, and some news reports at that time had tried to blame anarchists! What Cheek! So fluffy it was. Samba and clowns, fairies and mermaids. I am talking serious pink and silver tinsel!

Oh by the way, there was a ton of Irish people at the Shell garage. (If you are reading this and don't know what Shell is doing in Ireland, then click here now. Five people from County Mayo were locked up for over 3 months for refusing to surrender their land to Shell and the fight continues. Read the Ballad of the Rossport Five and more here)

After Splish Splash Splosh, a group of about 200 protestors, (including myself and the fairy) were being herded away from the town centre. Towards the rear of this herded group, there were some extremely rough police with loads of pushing and shoving and obviously up for a bit of aggro. One WPC took it on to herself to harass a pink-clad fairy who was walking a bit slower than most of the others. We never did quite figure out why the WPC was picking on the fairy. Perhaps it was due to the ominous looking feather duster? Maybe the fairy was wearing the wrong shade of pink? We simply don't know....

Joke:
Q: What do you call a woman who takes you to court?
A: Sue.

Anyway, I could quite visibly see that the fairy was in distress so I went over to chill the situation out. The WPC will all her wee might shoved the fairy straight into me. I held on to her as simple as that and half a second later I was arrested and charged with "Obstructing Police Business" and "Attempted Rescue Of A Prisoner".

I went to court last week and it all went amazingly well... The WPC and my arresting officer couldn't get their stories straight and went as far as claiming they were not tired even though they had arrested me after a 13 hour shift. They claimed they were not hot and bothered although it was Scotland's hottest day this year. It took next to no time before I was found NOT GUILTY on both charges!

Let it now be made completely official - HUGGING FAIRIES IS NOT A CRIME! Let that be a warning to our uniformed friends next time they try to stop clowns and fairies from hugging.

Phew, well that's all for now.

With lots of love from,

Commander-in-chief Seani Buttocks