In December 2002, a gang of "steamers" i.e. street and public transport muggers and robbers, was caught by the British Transport police. They were an ethnically mixed bunch of people of various ages, from different parts of London who would meet up in the Trocadero Shopping centre before heading off on their crime sprees. The last of the "Trocadero gang" was sentenced recently, and with a resounding thud, the authorities have now designated the Trocadero Shopping Centre as one of 15 or so designated Dispersal Zones under the Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 - Part 4, Dispersal of Groups etc.
"The "no-go" zone includes areas such as Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square. Fifteen other areas across the capital, including Victoria and Paddington, have also been declared off-limits from 9pm to 6am"
The West End Dispersal Zone includes all the streets of Soho, and the streets around it i.e. Regent Street, Oxford Street, Charing Cross Road, Leicester Square. It is unclear if it applies between Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square.
It is unclear if it applies to the East side of Charing Cross Road which is in Camden, rather than Westminster (Camden's published Dispersal Zones are in Somers Town and Camden Lock, and so are not directly relevant to our meetings).
c.f. Map of the West End
This means that any Police Officer or Community Police Officer can tell any "group" of people (of any age) to "move on" under penalty of arrest, basically on their say so. A "group", by the way, means "two or more persons" and could therefore, presumably, apply to even a single pregnant mother with an unborn baby.
There do not seem to be the same "safeguards" as are being operated under "stop and search" policies (which even apply to the controversial section 44 of the Terrorism Act) i.e. a written explanation of the reasons for a "stop and search" signed by the police officer, so this will be open to abuse and misinterpretation by individual officiers.
"Anyone being asked to move on will be handed a leaflet stating the area and posters have gone up, as well as local media adverts".
Posters and adverts in the local media are a legal requirement of the Act, but there is not, as yet, any map or detailed explanation of the extent of the Dispersal Zones on the web e.g. www.met.police.uk or www.london.gov.uk or www.westminster.gov.uk (email if you spot any such information).
The Police can also escort any people "apparently under the age of 16" back to their homes "or a place of safety" if they grab them after 9pm.
This 9pm curfew for under 16s was really designed for kids in council housing estates hanging around in gangs, but who live close by. When applied to Central London, you also have to take the public transport journey of perhaps an hour or more into account, so this means that it is likely that fewer under 16s will be able to attend our meetings "from 7pm to 8pm then on elsewhere" before potentially falling foul of the curfew on the way home.
This, of course, is in conflict with our Fundamental Human Rights to free assembly and association in a public place, under the Human Rights Act 1998,
"ARTICLE 11 FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION
1. Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association with others, including the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests."
but we do not have any money to contest this in the High Court (£1000 an hour barristers fees etc.).
We have never met initially in a pub or bar, deliberately so as not to exclude people under the age of 18.
Email this website (meetings@london2600.org.uk or use PGP. anonymous remailers, Hushmail etc.) if you think that we should move the venue and times of our London 2600 meetings, in order to "route around" the restrictions, and to preserve our policy of welcoming people of all ages, skills and experience to our meetings.
The consensus seems to be that we should start the initial meet up in the Troacadero half an hour earlier at 18:30, and review whether we should abandon the Trocadero altogether.
N.B. the original ASBO dispersal zone order expired, but it has been renewed from 6th March 2005, for another 6 months. We assume that this "temporary" legislation will just keep being rolled over permanently, like the Section 44 Terrorism Act 2000 designation of the whole of London within the M25 orbital motorway.
Are you sure it wasn't a gang of "savers" who were caught in early 2002? I seem to remember such an incident occurring late one Friday night. Heh.
Jem from Fargo, ND
(And yes, we have a 2600 webpage again)