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

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 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:

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:

In addition:

For East of England regional Back Office only email xr-eoe-backoffice@protonmail.com