Planning an action?

The majority of the things you need to think about are in the Action Planning book, elsewhere on the Toolkit. However there are two things that are relevant to providing arrestee and legal support at an action. - Legal Observer support - Back Office support

How to request a Legal Observer for a protest
Back Office support for an action

How to request a Legal Observer for a protest

Legal observers have a vital role to play in supporting the right to protest. But what exactly do legal observers do - and how can you request a legal observer?

Legal observers are trained volunteers who support the legal rights of activists. They act as independant witnesses to police behaviour, monitor arrests and provide Know Your Rights information to people on demonstrations.

Many people are worried about the risk of arrest and police intimidation at actions they are planning. Having legal support in place before an action can help people stay safer. There are useful tips around this in the Green and Black Cross guide planning an action.

The Independent Legal Observers Network (ILON) may be able to provide legal observers to support your action on the day. To request a legal observer, email ILON and including the following details:

The exact location of the protest
The start time and expected end time
The issue, and name of the organising group
Any social media links for the protest
A contact number for the day, in case it's needed

The more notice you can give the better, so please let them know basic details as soon as you start planning to call the demo/protest. A week's notice or more is ideal. You can contact ILON at legal-observer-network@protonmail.com.

PLEASE NOTE if you are in Scotland, you will need to contact the Scottish Community & Activist Legal Project for support.

Back Office support for an action

Back Office consists of a group of trained volunteers. The main functions of Back Office during an action are to:

Compile and maintain a record of arrestees;
Co-ordinate, and remain in contact with, supporters at police stations to which arrestees have been taken;
Respond to phone calls, mainly from: people reporting arrests, arrestees (custody calls), friends and family members of arrestees, people reporting on incidents such as police misbehaviour, rebels with legal questions.

We also liaise with Arrest Welfare so that arrestees can be supported later in their journey, for example with Court Support and financial support.

Most regions are supported by the main Arrestee and Legal Support Back office; East of England has a regional Back Office that can support EofE groups taking local action.

If you are coordinating an action and would like Back Office support we need the following information to help us plan:

Date of action:
Location (City/Town) of action:
Start Time:
Anticipated End Time:
Local Group:
Risk of arrest: (low, moderate, high).
Expected numbers of arrestees:
Contact: (Name/Alias, Number) - someone who Back Office can contact on the day, and who will phone Back Office when the action is over and all rebels are safely away from the site
Which bustcard is being made available on the day (you can check you have the the correct card for the region in which your action is at https://informeddissent.info/bustcard)
Is it a joint action? If so, we need to know whether any other Back Office (e.g. Green and Black Cross) is being used by one or more of the other groups.
Have Action Planners included within the team the capacity for Police Station Support (PSS)?
- Please ask rebels willing to do PSS for their team to join one of the three WhatsApp groups listed below. A PSSC (PSS coordinator) will post in them when a police station is confirmed as 'live' and supporters can then join the relevant station group and post their offers of support there.
  A fuller guide to doing PSS is available on the Toolkit.
- WhatsApp group joining links:

For the main Arrestee and Legal Support Back Office, email the information to backoffice@riseup.net.
For East of England regional Back Office email xr-eoe-backoffice@protonmail.com