In the spirit of the ancient tradition of Beating the Bounds of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 Designated Area around Parliament Square and beyond:
The Parliament Square Picnickers PresentBeating the Bounds
Sunday 4th December 1pm
As part of our ongoing defiance of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (2005) which outlaws protests without police permission and places harsh restrictions on any organised event within 1 km of parliament, we will march and mark the edge of the Democracy Free Zone (DFZ), following the medieval tradition of marking the boundaries of private land by beating landmarks with sticks. These include Shell House, the BA London Eye, Lambeth Palace and Scotland Yard.
Meet in Trafalgar Square beside Nelson’s Column at 1pm. For those who wish to do half the route meet at Lambeth Palace at approximately 2pm, where refreshments will be served in a very civilized fashion. We strongly urge anyone who feels that these laws infringe upon their human rights and freedom of speech to come along and show support.
It's your Parliament, and it's your Square, so be there!
For more information go to
www.peopleincommon.org
Technically the boundary of the Designated Area is the outermost extent of the pavement along the streets mentioned in the Designated Area Order, so there is no actual need to physically "beat", for example, the Security Service MI5 building or the Metropolitan Police HQ at New Scotland Yard, or Downing Street which may well have intimidating armed guards patrolling outside them, the "Bounds" are on the opposite side of the roadway from these buildings:
Designated area 2. - (1) For the purposes of sections 132 to 137 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005, the designated area is the area bounded by an imaginary line starting at the point where Hungerford Bridge crosses Victoria Embankment, continuing along Hungerford Bridge to the point where it crosses Belvedere Road, rightwards along Belvedere Road as far as Chicheley Street, leftwards along Chicheley Street as far as York Road, rightwards along York Road, crossing Westminster Bridge Road into Lambeth Palace Road, along Lambeth Palace Road as far as Lambeth Bridge, over Lambeth Bridge, leftwards along Millbank as far as Thorney Street, along Thorney Street as far as Horseferry Road, leftwards along Horseferry Road as far as Strutton Ground, along Strutton Ground crossing over Victoria Street into Broadway, along Broadway as far as Queen Anne's Gate, along Queen Anne's Gate as far as Birdcage Walk, rightwards along Birdcage Walk as far as Horse Guards Road, along Horse Guards Road as far as the Mall, rightwards along the Mall, across the north end of Whitehall as far as Northumberland Avenue, along Northumberland Avenue as far as Victoria Embankment, leftwards along Victoria Embankment returning to the starting point.(2) Subject to paragraph (3), references in paragraph (1) to a named street or other highway include the pavements adjoining that street or other highway on the extremity of the designated area.
(3) The pavements in Trafalgar Square are not included in the designated area.
Anybody following this "Beating of the Bounds" route, will see just how excessive it is for dealing with demonstrations or protests near Parliament, and also how little it actually has to do with "security" considerations.
There are some nice photos of this "Beating the Bounds" walk, in the initial report with more photos and a further report , both published on the Indymedia Uk website.
The PeopleInCommon website has a poster in its Resources section which seemed to work well:
Presumably as the "Bounds Beaters" kept moving, the "static demonstration" interpretation of the law by the Police did not come into play.