This book is a response to the Tory government’s new Police,
Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which aims to criminalise
protest and introduce punitive sentencing for those who seek
to organise a collective challenge to the system. It is also an
exploration of a deeper crisis in confidence in the police,
sparked by a number of highly publicised examples of police
racism, sexism and homophobia.
 

Most of the people interviewed in this book had no
intention of challenging the forces of the state. They learnt that
to defend jobs and communities or protest against injustice
led inevitably to confrontations with the police. This book is a record of
the stories of socialists and working-class activists who wanted
to protest against war or fascism, who wanted to win rights
for women, who wanted to defend their jobs or protest unfair
taxes and found themselves facing down police horses, baton
charges and police rampages.