Details of jout army-police manoeurres in Hull, involving a swoop on an cmpty house in an otherwise occupied street at lunchtie on Sunday 24 February, were revealed in last week's issue of Socialist Worker. Now a similar incident in Reading has been brought to our attention, reported in the local Evening Post on Saturday 23 February under the heading. Midnight Raid Denied By Police, further."
The Evening Post story ran as Reading police today clamped down on a mystery swoop they made on a Early today, officers swooped on a house in Southampton Street, A motorist. Mr Nigel Wise of Abingdon Drive, Caversham Park Village, said: *There was a large police lorry usually used to transit offenders, shree police Rover cars, and four unmarked Ford transit vans parked in Southampton Street. I saw several men who looked like detectives, two police dogs with handlers, and an **It looked like a pretty high-powered operation, The house they were concentrating their interest on was just before the traffie lights at the junction of Crown there was an Army man on the site, I thought it might have been a bomb call."
*A spokesmen for Reading police denied thete had been a raid on a house in the area, or that anybody would be appear ing in court. He woold not comment This and the Hull incident follow on logically from the Heathrow manoeuvres, as part of the preparations for possible joint army-police inter vention in future civil industria] disputes, Workers" organisations must take this seriously. Every such incident should be noted, in preparation for a campaign which can expose the full extent of these developments and lay the basis for the working class to respond through the estah ishment of its own defence organisations.