12 Noon Every Sunday, Parliament Square London Picnic/Tea Party Protest

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Press Release: 12 Noon Every Sunday, Parliament Square London Picnic/Tea Party Protest

Press: More Info at 0785 439 0408

"The Founding of the People’s Commons London, August 2005

Right Honourable Ladies and Gentlemen

You are cordially invited to join us for our weekly People’s Commons Meeting/Tea Party/Picnic-Protest on the Green at Parliament Square, Westminster. We meet every Sunday at 12 Noon on the Green in front of The House of Commons!

Background

We are now building on the success of our previous meetings, initially held in response to New Labour’s attempt to criminalise the Right to Protest, without notice, in the Westminster/Parliament Square area, but which appears to be morphing into something more than just protest. Below find information on the legislation that has drawn us together to meet regularly and on the event itself.

Information on Legislation/Police Action

Under the new legislation, notably s132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (April 2005) anyone wishing to demonstrate [however peacefully and/or just] in the "designated area" around Parliament - which includes the Square, extends as far as the London Eye and includes all of Whitehall and a large part of Westminster - must apply to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner at least 6 days in advance or, if not "reasonably practicable", 24 hours in advance. Permission must be granted but the Commissioner can impose draconian conditions on the protest including: when and where it can take place; how long it can last; how many people can attend; how much noise can be made; and the number and size of banners and placards used.

In the weeks since the Act came into force (July 1st), the police have made a number of arrests. One of the permanent Parliament Square anti-war protestors (there is another, a Russian chap, who the police have inexplicably left alone) Brian Haw, to whom the Act was originally aimed, has been found exempt from its terms. This means that under the current law, Brian is the only person in the whole world who is allowed to demonstrate peacefully without asking permission in front of the Houses of Parliament. In order to make the unworkability, absurdity and abuse of power inherent in this law and also as a means to showing exactly how a better world might be possible, we have decided to hold our party-protest Peoples Commons Meeting in Parliament Square every week (and quite possibly more often and/or permanently) until the law – and the system of neo-liberal government under which we and others around the world are forced to live - is changed.

So far, a few people (in total, 11) have been arrested since the Act came into force. Last Sunday, however, the police left us alone to our own devices. That notwithstanding we are – in the light of the ongoing possibility of arrest for taking part in a picnic - taking special care to ensure that all feel welcome to join us and are not unduly put off by the risk of arrest – men women children police officers and even MPs! Therefore to protect people we have set up a Party Line system, whereby those who are definitely 'protestors' (and are therefore willing to get arrested) are on one side of the line, and those who are 'supporters', exercising their right to picnic and freely associate in a public place in support of a better world order, are on the other. Regardless, the police appear understandably reluctant to arrest more individuals than they have to, probably because they know as well as we do that the law in this case is daft, absurd, an undemocratic abuse of power etc etc.

Information on the Event

What We Are Trying To Do: we are determined to challenge the government in the context of the criminalisation of the Right to Protest and Associate Freely under The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act and also in respect of many of their other policies. But we are determined to do so non-violently, so as to embody, as Mahatma Gandhi once said we must, the change we want to see in the world. In a nutshell, this – the safeguarding of our liberties and the grassroots embodiment of a better world for all - is the whole point of the exercise. So, come help us fight the good fight!

What to bring: please bring whatever you can dream up in order to help make the party a great success. Particularly useful are food, drink, music, banner-making materials, games (cricket with sponge ball, frisbee, croquet etc) bubbles, flowers and ideas for the future. We want to embody a deeper form of democracy than that peddled by the mainstream political parties, because we believe a better world is both possible and necessary, so please come along and help us show the world what democracy is really about.

What to wear: (depending on weather conditions) it’s a party, so let’s get those glad rags out! Please put on your Sunday best, or better still (our continuous theme is great protestors through the ages) dress as your favourite protestor; perhaps a Suffragette (Mary Poppins!?) Or perhaps Boadicca, Mahatma Gandhi, Che Guevara. Jesus Christ? The choice, of course, is yours. And, in the spirit of a truly representative/participatory process, all are welcome, especially 60s Revolutionaries! (easy if you have nothing else to wear, just come as a hippy – we just love flares). Or alternatively, come as the most powerful superhero of all, yourself! We want to continue with our love peace and happiness vibe, every week, but without losing the attitude, and what we wear is part of this. Children and Jedis (with or without light sabres) are of course particularly welcome!

Regular Features of the Day

Aside from the picnic, party/games playing vibe, three key features have already become a regular part of the Sunday event. Timings vary, and depend on weather and police attitude, except for the prayer which is at 4 pm.

1) The People’s Commons Meeting (towards a DIY, non-hierarchical participatory form of democracy) in which all those who wish to take part are invited to sit together for a period of time and take turns in speaking their mind on whatever subject they feel moved to. One person facilitates and another takes Minutes, and these roles rotate each week.

2) Free The Tea in which a group of revolutionaries walk down to the Thames and half way across the river throw tea bags (PG Tips, pyramid shaped) into the river in support of a tax on international currency trade (Currency Transaction Tax or CTT) in order to ring fence billions of pounds each year for international development. We are protesting our government’s (and the G8’s) attitude to Trade Justice. See early Day Motion 500 currently before the House of Commons for more on the CTT. No Corporate Representation without International Taxation! More info at www.tobintax.org.uk

3) Prayer Vigil for Justice and Peace a silent/contemplative prayer asking for help in the battle for a better world, for individuals of all faiths and/or none. Takes place at 4pm.

So please come along and join us for more creative, beautiful, peaceful acts of defiance, and over time we will see what is possible. For more details, please see www1.atwiki.com/picnic (easily editable web page in which everyone is invited to contribute ideas regarding the organisation and direction of the event), www.parliamentprotest.org.uk (a more general site that covers all aspects of the right to protest movement), www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/right-to-protest.shtml (Liberty website’s section on Right To Protest etc)

In the coming weeks we have plans for a banner making workshop (this Sunday, 28th), the formulation of policy (this and every following Sunday), and possibly a pre-party walk along the Thames to London from Runnymede, where the Magna Carta was signed in 1215 (discussion and date TBA) and of course various other imaginative shenanigans.

Hope to see you there! 12 Noon, on the Green, Parliament Square, Westminster, every Sunday.


Just behind Brian Haw’s banners.

Be there, because it's your Square

In Solidarity,

Spark

www.globalnation.org.uk "

7 Comments

I had given up hope that anyone cared about freedom.But since reading about your group in the Independent I find myself moved to join up. Hope to see you all soon.
Anne.

A tea party? Capital idea, old bean!

I too read Henry Porters article in the Independent. It shocks and saddens me to think of the rights which people have spilled blood to protect being eroded on an almost daily basis.

Banning protest is the action of a tin pot dictator. I never thought it would come to this in my lifetime in Britain.

More tea vicar?

Jolly good. Hope to get down this Sunday with a badge for Mr. Spark.

Milk and two sugars please

hi there spark here thanks for the messages Just to let you know the picnic generally meets these days around 2pm as we are bit lazy

do come say hi if you like - blank placards are sometimes present so you will know who we are..

ps we don't always dress up these days


Xx

hi there

spark here thanks for the messages just to let you know that we now meet around 2pm, not 12 noon as we are a bit lazy

also, we don't dress up every week

Xx

@ spark - the www.peopleincommon.org website says that the picnics in Parliament Square start at 1pm on a Sunday

Is this still going on or are you too lazy?

Parliament Protest Web Button

Either save this image and link to us, or copy the HTML code below into your web page or template:

Peaceful resistance to the curtailment of our rights to Free Assembly and Free Speech in the SOCPA Designated Area around Parliament Square and beyond

Click here for a larger version of this web campaign button graphic.

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Recent Comments

  • anna: Is this still going on or are you too lazy? read more
  • Peaceful Demonstrator: @ spark - the www.peopleincommon.org website says that the picnics read more
  • spark: hi there spark here thanks for the messages just to read more
  • spark: hi there spark here thanks for the messages Just to read more
  • Sir John the Badjist: Jolly good. Hope to get down this Sunday with a read more
  • Winston Smith: A tea party? Capital idea, old bean! I too read read more
  • Anne Sommerville: I had given up hope that anyone cared about freedom.But read more

Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers and Protest Organisers

The hints and tips below are just as important to anybody organising a peaceful Protest near to Parliament Square, as they are to other people who might come under UK Government or Multinational Corpotation:

Please take the appropriate precautions if you are planning to blow the whistle on shadowy and powerful people in Government or commerce, and their dubious policies. The mainstream media and bloggers also need to take simple precautions to help preserve the anonymity of their sources e.g. see Spy Blog's Hints and Tips for Whistleblowers - or use this easier to remember link: http://ht4w.co.uk

BlogSafer - wiki with multilingual guides to anonymous blogging

Digital Security & Privacy for Human Rights Defenders manual, by Irish NGO Frontline Defenders.

Everyone’s Guide to By-Passing Internet Censorship for Citizens Worldwide (.pdf - 31 pages), by the Citizenlab at the University of Toronto.

Handbook for Bloggers and Cyber-Dissidents - March 2008 version - (2.2 Mb - 80 pages .pdf) by Reporters Without Borders

Reporters Guide to Covering the Beijing Olympics by Human Rights Watch.

A Practical Security Handbook for Activists and Campaigns (v 2.6) (.doc - 62 pages), by experienced UK direct action political activists

Anonymous Blogging with Wordpress & Tor - useful step by step guide with software configuration screenshots by Ethan Zuckerman at Global Voices Advocacy. (updated March 10th 2009 with the latest Tor / Vidalia bundle details)

Convention on Modern Liberty - 28th Feb 2009

Convention on Modern Liberty - 28th Feb 2009
Convention on Modern Liberty - 28th Feb 2009

The Convention is being held in the Logan Hall and adjoining rooms at the Institute of Education in Bloomsbury, central London.

Address:

The Institute of Education
20 Bedford Way
London
WC1H 0AL

There are video linked screenings or other parallel meetings being held across the UK in Belfast. Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff and Manchester.

Convention on Modern Liberty blog

Campaign Button Links

NO2ID  Campaign
NO2ID - opposition to the Home Office's Compulsory Biometric ID Card and National Identity Register centralised database.

UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign
UK Public CCTV Surveillance Regulation Campaign

link to www.peopleincommon.org

People in Common - weekly Picnics etc. in Parliament Square, every Sunday at about 1pm.

Save Parliament: Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)
Save Parliament - Legislative and Regulatory Reform Bill (and other issues)

cfoi_150.jpg
Campaign for the Freedom of Information

Please help us to find this man! He was arrested(?) in Parliament Square on 1st August 2005

This man was one of the very first people arrested in Parliament Square on 1st August 2005, but he has apparently disappeared.

link to SilentProtest.org.uk
Silent Protest - a web photo gallery "encouraging people to stage a virtual, government un-sanctioned protest. All you need to do is get a picture of yourself, or your friends, within the protest free zone. Assume the pose (hand over mouth), aim and click."

repeal-SOCPA-info_150.gif
. repeal-SOCPA.info - useful background briefings for the Managing Protest around Parliament public consultation, and model letters to MPs etc.

About this blog

This web blog has been set up as an information resource and discussion area (please be polite in the comments) to help organise resistance to the restrictions on peaceful democratic demonstrations and protests, which have been enacted by law, in a wide Designated Area around Parliament Square in London.

It appears that in order to remove the peace protestor Brian Haw, who had been demonstrating continuously in Parliament Square, day and night, for over 10 years,(literally until his death in June 2011), the NuLabour Government overreacted, and granted themselves draconian and arbitrary powers, which affected the rights of all individual British citizens to lobby their Members of Parliament, or to walk in a vast Designated Area wearing a "political slogan" T-shirt, badge, rubber wristband etc. without first seeking prior written permission from the Police.

This is an affront to democracy and is not justified even on any spurious "climate of fear" alleged "security" grounds.

N.B. SOCPA ss128-132 is now repealed and replaced with less restictive laws, but there are still some peculiar restrictions and bylaws on protests around Parliament Square.

Email Contact

Please feel free to email us your news, views or suggestions about this blog, and about the issues it highlights.

info @ParliamentProtest [dot] org [dot].uk

For those of you who want to send us information in confidence, here is our PGP Public Encryption Key

Syndicate this site (XML):

Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 was rushed through, "on the nod", with minimal debate, during the undemocratic "wash up" process at the end of the last Parliament when the General Election had been called.

The bulk of the Act deals with the setting up of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, but there are also sections such as:

Section 110 Powers of Arrest

From 1st January 2006 this section makes any offence, no matter how minor, into an arrestable offence. Arrests by the police these days can mean taking 10 fingerprints and two palm prints, a DNA tissue sample and processing it into a digital "DNA fingerprint", forcing you to remove any facial coverings, (even those worn for religous purposes) to take photographs of your face etc. All of these items of personal data can then be retained forever, even if you are not charged, or any charges against you are dropped, or if you go to court and are found not guilty.

These new powers are regulated by the new statutory Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) Code of Practice G (.pdf)

Section 128 Trespass on a Designated Site - e.g. Crown Property or National Security

Sections 132 to 138 Demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament - the controversial restrictions in detail.

The Public Whip website has details of how the Members of the House of Commons voted on these controversial clauses.

Brian Haw

Veteran peace protestor Brian Haw was physically camped out in Parliament Square since 2nd June 2001 until his death in June 2011

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 sections 132 to 138 Designatd Area law seem to have been written to try to specifically suppress his protests, although, through sheer incompetence, the Government found that Brian Haw himself was initially exempt from some of it, since his protest started before the stupidly worded repressive legislation came into force, although a later High Court Appeal, at public exepnse, did apply the law to him.

See Parliament Square website for news and support details.

Write to politicians

Write To Them - identify and contact your local councillors, Members of Parliament, devolved Assembly members and Members of the European Parliament

You can also write to the Home Secretary David Blunkett Charles Clarke John Reid Jacqui Smith Alan Johnson Theresa May

You can send an email public.enquiries@ homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk or a letter to:

Rt. Hon. Theresa May MP
Home Secretary
c/o Direct Communications Unit
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF

Home Office Contact Us page

Designated Area

The current Designated Area is set out in:

Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1537 The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Designated Area) Order 2005

Read more about the Designated Area in our category archive.

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 section 132 to 138 have been repealed by the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 Part 3 on the Statute Book, but not yet Commenced by Order). This replaces the Designated Area with a much smaller Controlled Area - just Parliament Square Gardens and the surrounding pavements.

Mass Lone Demonstrations

Comedian Mark Thomas's website has details of Mass Lone Demonstrations which legally show up the absurdity of this law, and the bureaucracy involved in enforcing it. These multiple independent one person demonstrations take place on the third Wednesday of the month, from 5pm - 7.30pm within the Designated Area (often in Parliament Square, but not exclusively so)

Meet on the second Wednesday of each month outside Charing Cross police station (located at Agar Street, London, WC2N 4JP - see the map) any time between: 5.30 pm -7.30pm to hand in your Metropolitan Police SOCPA forms (download the optional Word or PDF forms from the Metroplitan Police) or your own personal Written Applications for Prior Permission.

Regular Protests in Parliament Square

Parliament Square - supporting the long running, 24/7, peace protest by Brian Haw in Parliament Square

Global Women's Strike who held "open mike" loudspeaker protests every Wednesday for over two and a half years, which are now banned.

London Critical Mass - group bicycle ride on the last Friday of every month, for the last 10 years, which often strays into the Designated Area.

The People's Commons Meeting / Tea Party / Picnic-Protest is now meeting every Sunday afternoon starting at 1 for 1.30pm on the Green in Parliament Square. wiki - new website PeopleInCommon.org

Website Links

Home Office - "Not fit for purpose. It is inadequate in terms of its scope, it is inadequate in terms of its information technology, leadership, management, systems and processes" - Home Secretary John Reid. 23rd May 2006.

Metropolitan Police Service

Metropolitan Police Authority - meant democratically to supervise the Metropolitan Police Service

Independent Police Complaints Commission

United Kingdom Parliament - Palace of Westminster, House of Lords, House of Commons etc.

Booking Parliament Square - Greater London Authority booking forms, terms and conditions for filming and photography for Parliament Square - "The GLA does not grant permission for demonstration, rallies and public meetings on Parliament Square Gardens".

They Work For You - a more user friendly version of the House of Commons Hansard

Pledgebank pledge:

"I will form part of a human chain around the Westminster no protest zone but only if 6,000 other people will join in."

Repeal-SOCPA-Info has useful briefing material for the Public Consultation into the laws restricting demonstrations, marches and assemblies, sample letters to MPs etc..

Blog Links

Spy Blog - Privacy and Security and Civil liberties campaigning

Mayor of London Blog - unnofficial comments on the Mayor of London and Greater London Assembly

Fuel Crisis Blog - Petrol at £1 per litre ! Protest !

Bloggerheads graphics of the 1km zone and the actual Designated Area

Charity Sweet - who has been harrassed for reading a copy of the Independent newspaper outside Downing Street etc.

BBC Travel Jam Cams

BBC Radio London has some links to Traffic Monitoring CCTV cameras, which they publish every 5 or 10 minutes, not usually in real time.

Whenever there is an "incident" or a march or demonstration, these online images are deliverately censored i.e. "not available for operational reasons", This is despite the images being of too low a resolution to identify anybody, and, the effect of not diverting traffic away from the incident, which should be the whole point of the online Traffic Cam images in the first place.

Whitehall / Parliament Square - this camera view sometimes shows Brian Haw's peace camp, and the "temporary" GLA fence around Parliament Square Gardens (removed >then rebuilt)

Northumberland Avenue / Victoria Embankment

Trafalgar Square (on the edge of the Designated Area)