No stampede, no injuries, as new shop opens in Broadmead
By 
Don't panic: Shoppers walk calmly into the Primark store in Broadmead this morning
Bristol24-7 can confirm that there was no mad rush and no-one was injured as a new shop opened its doors in Broadmead this morning.
A queue of about 200 shoppers quietly made their way into the Primark store – the chain’s second biggest in Britain – at the old House of Fraser building at 9am.
Watching them, watching you: Police used a video camera to monitor the 15 anti-poverty protesters
The shoppers, who had waited for almost one hour, took five minutes to enter in an orderly fashion, carrying balloons that were passed to them as they waited – in scenes that bore no comparison with previous Primark grand openings from the past.
A demonstration organised by the charity War on Want and Bristol-based group Labour Behind The Label began shortly afterwards. Up to 15 protesters, there to highlight their claims that Primark workers in the Third World were being paid slave-labour wages, gathered outside the main entrance handing out leaflets.
Police and private security guards allowed the protest to pass off peacefully, taking pictures and video recordings of the demonstrators for their scrap books…
Up to a dozen passers-by stopped briefly to see what the protest was about. When asked by one what the issue was for the protesters, Bristol24-7 was able to confirm in detail the claims made. She responded: “Oh, I see.”
I can remember a few years back being filmed by cops at a demo while doing absolutely nothing but standing about so I went over and offered them my name and address …
They said no!
It's an intimidation tactic. In terms of intelligence gathering it's utterly ineffective. How do you identify the people? It would take a massive load of man hours to figure out who unknown people are.
Of course, if you want to waste a lot of police time, you can request the footage they have of you by making a subject access request to them under the Data Protection Act.
They then have to trawl through all the hours of their pointless film finding you.
Intimidate 'em back!
Doesn't it strike you as strange that the police felt it necessary to film the 15 protesters?
Why did they do that?
Did they have operational intelligence indicating that criminal actions were likely at this demo?
Or, as I suspect, has this just become the norm now? A subtle change in the way public protest is perceived – as something to be wary of rather than a positive good to public life?
Being filmed by the agents of the state while exercising your ancient right of free speech and assembly is inherently intimidating. It shouldn't happen.
Anyway, aren't there enough CCTV cameras around there already?
No, I wasn't one of the 15.