Civil liberties

24 January 2012Feature

PN talks to peace activist Maria Gallastegui following her recent victory in the high court.

Maria Gallastegui and fellow peace campers protesting against war on Iran or Syria at the Peace Strike camp in Parliament Square, on 19 January. PHOTO: Dan Viesnik

Long-time peace camper Maria Gallastegui, 53, has managed to stave off eviction from Parliament Square, despite the clearing of all other protest camps in the central London square.

Among other structures cleared, the peace camp set up by the late Brian Haw in 2001 was…

24 January 2012News

High court rules on St Paul's occupation

On 17 January, high court judge Keith Lindblom ruled that Occupy LSX, the tent city that has stood in front of London’s St Paul’s Cathedral since 15 October, was unlawfully obstructing a public highway.

Enforcement was delayed until 24 January (after PN goes to press) to allow time for an appeal.

However, despite the prospect of losing the birthplace of the UK’s Occupy movement, residents of the St Paul’s Cathedral encampment told PN  they were not discouraged by the ruling. …

1 November 2011News

New legislation to curtail protest around Parliament.

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (PRSRA) which received royal assent on 15 September enshrines the latest attempt to try to prevent continuous protest in Parliament Square, in particular Brian Haw’s 10-year old peace camp, which continues after his death.

Part 3 of the PRSRA repeals the sections of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) that required police authorisation for political protest and banned the use of loudspeakers in an area including…

1 October 2011News

The law banning "unauthorised" protests around Parliament has finally been repealed, but what will replace it?

On 15 September, the house of commons repealed the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) restricting protest around parliament. Its replacement, the new Police and Social Responsibility Bill, which has not yet come into force, appears to prohibit 24-hour protests in Parliament Square. Tents, sleeping bags, structures and any items associated with maintaining an ongoing presence seem to be illegal the square.

Camp hit

On 31 August, police dismantled…

1 October 2011News

On 26 August, the metropolitan police in London obtained the home secretary’s consent to ban marches in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, Waltham Forest, and Newham for one month from 2 September. The police stated that the decision had been based on “specific intelligence and information which has led us to believe that serious public disorder, violence and damage could be caused by… marches in these areas.”

The implication was that the ban was a reaction to plans by the racist…

1 October 2011News in Brief

In early September, Nottinghamshire police paid £20,000 in an out-of-court settlement to Rizwaan Sabir, the student at Nottingham university who was detained for seven days in 2008 after downloading an al-Qa’eda training manual as part of his research on terrorism.

1 September 2011News

Israeli Palestinian MP deported from UK.

On 28 June, Sheikh Reed Salah, leader of the largest Palestinian political party in Israel, was arrested by UK border police, held in Bedford high security prison and served with a deportation order.

Salah had entered the UK on 25 June, using his Israeli passport, as he had before, for a speaking tour and had already spoken to MPs in the Commons and to gatherings at Queen Mary University, Conway Hall and Leicester.

On 18 July, Salah won an appeal against detention and was…

29 August 2011Blog

Charlotte Potter-Powell reports on the solidarity day at Dale Farm on 27 August

Dale Farm in Essex is the UK’s largest Travellers’ community. The residents have been fighting for ten years to remain there but now 90 families of 500 people, many of them children, face eviction from 31 August. The Conservative-led Basildon Council has set aside £18 million for an eviction which could take weeks, while supporters have set up a solidarity camp at the site.

The community at Dale Farm are predominantly Irish Travellers and many have lived there for 30 years. They own…

13 August 2011Feature

On 13 November last year, the House of Lords gave its judgement on the long running Fairford Coach Action case. It was a complete victory on all points for Jane Laporte who had taken the test case. However, the devil is in the detail. Andy Meinke takes a goodlook at the judgement and what it means for future protests.

Just the facts M'Lud...

On 22 March 2003, three coaches carrying around 120 protesters travelled to USAF Fairford from London for an anti-war demonstration. It was the first weekend of the Iraq War. They were stopped and searched at the village of Lechlade, three miles from Fairford. After being held for two hours they were let back on the coaches, but instead of being allowed to proceed to the authorised demonstration they were forcibly escorted, non-stop, back to London. (For…

13 August 2011Feature

Phone calls, email and browser histories to be stored by government for a year

In the last month, the government and big businesses have launched a dizzying array of initiatives threatening the expansion of a creeping “surveillance society” – which has lead to two young people being arrested.

The most sweeping proposal is the government’s scheme to store every phone call, sent email, and web page visited over the previous year by British citizens in a giant database. Jonathan Bamford, of the government’s own privacy watchdog the Information Commissioner’s…

1 June 2011News in Brief

Dr Rod Thornton, a lecturer in counter-terrorism at the university of Nottingham, was suspended on 4 May for documening serious misconduct by senior university management over the arrest of two university members under the Terrorism Act 2000 in May 2008. Using documents obtained under the Freedom of Information and Data Protection Acts, Thornton demonstrates that university management and senior academics colluded to paint Rizwaan Sabir and Hicham Yezza in a negative light despite no…

1 May 2011News

Anti-war campaigner Brian Haw has lost his last appeal to keep his peace camp on the grass in Parliament Square, after the mayor of London was granted a possession order by the high court on 17 March.

The central green is controlled by the greater london authority (GLA), while the pavement surrounding the grass belongs to Westminster city council (WCC). Separate eviction proceedings brought by the WCC in relation to the pavement are due to come to trial before 9 May.

The 62-…

1 May 2011News

On 14 April, the high court ruled that police acted illegally when they cordoned (“kettled”) Climate Camp protesters in Bishopsgate, London, at the G20 protest on 1 April 2009. The case was brought by two people who were among 5,000 kettled by police for five hours.

The judgment does not rule the tactic of kettling illegal, but places limits on its use, concluding that: “The police may only take such preventive action as a last resort catering for situations about to descend into…

19 April 2011Blog

Maya Evans has a case against her heard in her absence ...

It was back in November sometime when I discovered a phone message from someone at Charing Cross police events department asking me to return their call. Reluctant to spend money on a phone call which I didn’t really want to have, I called the number.

I found myself talking to a rather confused police officer who said they wanted to complete information for their files regarding an unauthorised demonstration I had co-organized back in October, and also the use of a megaphone in the…

1 April 2011News

Rikki explores the politics of the permanent protest camps

Aborigine Tent Embassy, Canberra, 39 years White House Peace Camp, 30 years Faslane Peace Camp, 28 years l Falun Gong protest, Chinese Embassy, London, 8 years Brian Haw Peace Camp, Parliament Square, 10 years

These are just a few examples of an established tradition of symbolic round-the-clock vigils outside government establishments worldwide. In a true democracy, people wouldn't need to resort to such extremes to have their voices heard, but the existence of these vigils is often regarded…