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Police repression of homeless people was evident on Belfast’s Botanic Avenue tonight, & if that wasn’t enough Food Not Bombs were assaulted for objecting. Not long after we set up our stall (around 7pm) 3 police officers began hassling a young man for begging outside Botanic Train Station (around 20 metres away from us). After about 15-20 minutes the police arrested this man dragging him to their van with excessive force. Several people from FNB approached the police & objected to the manner in which they were treating this man.

Immediately one officer began shouting abuse to the FNB folk & pushed one woman & then grabbed her by the arm, twisting it behind her back. He then pushed her along the street & told her she was under arrest. When 4 other people from FNB approached to provide support the officer then ‘de-arrested her’.

When another woman from FNB came forward to tell him his behaviour was not expectable the same officer pushed her & he shouted at her ‘you are an ignorant woman’. I had my details taken by the police who seemed to not like the fact that I was writing down their numbers.

At all time the FNB folks acted calmly & peacefully the force used by this officer & his general aggressive attitude was not merited in any way. In fact the other police officers seemed to be embarrassed by the actions of their colleague’s behaviour (maybe they’ve just seen too much good cop/bad cop on TV). They seemed to calm him down enough to get into the van from where he continued to shout abuse at us.

Some of the FNB crew visited Donegal Pass Police Station to make a complaint about this incident & will be lodging a complaint with the Police Ombudsman.

This is the second time within a month Belfast FNB have encountered problems from the PSNI. At our last serving the police asked us if we could move somewhere else as we were ‘attracting beggars’ (duh! That’s the point). When we didn’t comply he left stating ‘I asked you this time but we’ll see how it goes…’ (& kinda walked off with a Clint Eastwood swagger).

Belfast FNB serve meals to the homeless, hungry or curious, drawing attention to the fact that throughout the world poverty & hunger are on the increase, as more & more money is expended on stoking conflict rather than meeting human need. The group have been serving food in Belfast since October 2002 (mainly as part of anti-war actions) & Since December 03 we’ve had a soup kitchen on Botanic Avenue every two weeks.

The basic activity of FNB groups is to collect food otherwise wasted by industry & to serve free vegetarian meals on the street. In Western Europe & US the food industry around 20% of food produced ends up being dumped. This is deemed sound economic practice as it ensures supermarket shelves are brimming over with delicious delicacies bolstering our fundamental right: ‘freedom of consumer choice’.

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