Civil liberties

Maria was the only Parliament Square camper given leave to challenge the new Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRASRA), which replaces the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) which expired at the end of March.

As PN went to press, it was still not clear when the high court would announce its decision. ‘Originally, they said they would make a decision [in the week of 20 March],’ Maria told PN. ‘However, they keep on pushing the date back…

On 2 February, the police oversight body, her majesty’s inspectorate of constabulary (HMIC), published a report on national police intelligence units. This was a response to the outing of a number of police spies – including Mark Kennedy – who infiltrated protest groups on a long-term basis, forming sexual relationships with protesters, and some even having children with them, using their false personae. (See PN 2528, 2530.)

The main target of the report was the national public order…

In late news, on 2 January, US president Barack Obama signed the national defense authorisation act into law, empowering the US military to arrest and detain without charge or trial those it ‘believes’ are al-Qa’eda supporters, Taliban supporters and ‘associated forces’.

Deborah Glass-Woodin

Deborah Glass-Woodin was an active member of the Green Party and served on the city and county council in Oxford, where she still lives. Deborah had her pre-trial hearing on 2 February and her full hearing is scheduled for 14 May at Reading magistrates’ court.

After spending many years as an active member of the Green Party, she has become a green activist. In 2008, she was arrested during a protest against treefelling in Oxford. The charges were later…

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. …

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…

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…

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…

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…

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.

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…