Campaign for Free Assembly: Last Campaign for Free Assembly Day of Action

Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Last Campaign for Free Assembly Day of Action

Last Saturday 5th of April we gathered at Trafalgar Square to once again claim our freedom to assemble in the UK. Around twenty of us held banners from the campaign and handed out leaflets informing passers-by on the existing and proposed legislations thwarting our ability to freely protest in this country. With us there were also a few police vans and the Forward Intelligence Teams (see video by Doug). However, this time we didn’t get the same amount of harassment and intimidation they usually inflict on protesters. After an hour in the ‘Charles I Island’ (South Trafalgar Square) we moved with our banners into the SOCPA exclusion zone and went for a walk to Whitehall, the Home Office and Parliament Square, where we were joined by Brian Haw (see photographs of demo below). Needless to say we were escorted all the way by a group of approximately eight police officers and a police van. We decided we didn't want to wait until this government’s finally repeals sections 132-138 of SOCPA in order to protest in the restriction area. We feel those laws, as with many others, are unjust and against our fundamental freedoms and, therefore, we refuse to comply with them.

Jack Straw announced plans to replace SOCPA sections 132-138 - which ban spontaneous demonstrations around Parliament, and make it a criminal offence to demonstrate without police permission - to get maximum positive PR from the ever-compliant press. Straw only announced the repeal now, while the need for new laws was hidden in the small print:

"In moving to repeal sections 132-138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, the Government nonetheless takes seriously the need to ensure that the operation of Parliament is safeguarded. For many years this principle has been given expression in sessional orders which provided the Metropolitan Police with clarity on the House’s expectations on the Commissioner. [...] The Government believes that Parliament itself is well placed to contribute to proper consideration of what needs to be secured in order to ensure that Members are able freely and without hindrance to discharge their roles and responsibilities. [...] The Government therefore invites the views of Parliament on whether additional provision is needed for the purpose of keeping passages leading to the House free and open while the House is sitting, or to ensure that, for example, excessive noise is not used to disrupt the workings of Parliament."

http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/constitutional-renewal-white-paper.pdf

The proposed powers and those already given to the police create a climate of criminalisation: a vast confusion of laws are applied arbitrarily so people are arrested simply for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time or having the wrong face. This combines with a police culture that evades accountability even when people are killed, as shown by the Menezes case and others.

There should be no complacency that the court system can be relied on to prevent injustice. The ability to exercise effective protest is crucial in order to defend ourselves and others from the abuses of those in power. Whatever the issues that matter most to you, whether you are concerned about a safer school crossing, a new runway or ending a war, these laws affect you.

The government proposals need a response not on paper but on our streets. The message is simple: we claim the freedom to assemble without prior notification or permission and this freedom is not open to negotiation.

The Campaign for Free Assembly will be holding a Day of Action on the first Saturday of every month in order to campaign against, not only the restrictions within the 1km designated area under SOCPA, but also all the other legislations and measures - as in the case of 'dispersal zones' - constantly being applied to suppress free assembly and protest.

Next Day of Action for Free Assembly: Saturday 3rd May. We will gather at 1pm at the ‘Charles I Island’, the roundabout on the South side of Trafalgar Square (fyi: this place is just on the border with the SOCPA exclusion zone).

Come with your mates and decide with them what you want to do with the day. Bring placards, banners and anything else you can think of. Let them know you won’t be easily silenced.

Next CFA Public Meeting: Saturday 12th April, 2-4pm. London School of Economics, Connaught House, room H102 (Holborn).

Campaign for Free Assembly
e-mail: freeassembly@riseup.net

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The Rule of (Their) Law

• Section 128 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 makes it an offence to trespass (enter land or buildings without the consent of the owner) on any ‘designated site’. ‘Designated sites’ are Crown Lands, private properties of the Queen or her heir to the throne or any site that the Secretary of the State considers appropriate to designate. Maximum penalty: one year imprisonment and/or £5000 fine. Many military bases in the UK are now ‘designated sites’.

• Section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 allows the police to impose conditions on demonstrations and arrest unauthorised protesters within 1km of Parliament. Maximum penalty: three months imprisonment and/or £2500 fine. A ‘demonstration’ is one or more people expressing an opinion.

• Section 145 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 makes it an offence to ‘interfere with contractual relationships so as to harm animal research organisations’. To harm an animal research organisation means to cause the organisation to suffer loss or damage of any description, or to prevent or hinder the carrying out by the organisation of any of its activities. Maximum penalty: one year imprisonment and/or £5000 fine.

• Section 50 of the Police Reform Act 2002 allows police to demand the name and address of anyone suspected of acting in an 'anti-social manner'. It has often been used on protesters. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: £1000 fine.

• Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 allows police officers to search anyone in a public place for placards, leaflets or other protest materials, without needing any grounds for the search. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: six months imprisonment and/or £5000 fine. Any details for e.g. bank cards, Oyster, driving license will be recorded.

• Sections 11, 12 and 13 of the Public Order Act 1986 force organisers to give the police written advance notice of a procession, give the police power to impose conditions on processions, including conditions as to the route of the procession or prohibiting it from entering any public place, preventing leafleting and censoring banners or placards. Section 13 also gives the Police the power to ban a procession. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: three months imprisonment and/or £2500 fine. A ‘procession’ is any two or more people moving in the same direction.

• Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986, as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, contains a similar power to Section 12 of POA 1986 but for public assemblies, allowing conditions to be put on the number of people who may take part, the location of the assembly, and its maximum duration. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: three months imprisonment and/or £2500 fine. An ‘assembly’ is any two or more people with the same idea, standing still.

• Section 68 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, as amended by the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003, prevents any demonstration on private land, including semi-public spaces like shopping centres or the whole of Canary Wharf. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: three months imprisonment and/or £2500 fine.

• Section 60 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, as amended by the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001, contains a power which can authorise police officers within a given area to stop and search for offensive opinions. Maximum penalty for refusal to comply: one month imprisonment and/or £2500 fine.