One might have expected the first people to have been arrested and charged for alleged SOCPA section 132 offences, back on the 1st August 2005, to have been the first people
to be brought before a Magistrates court. For no logical reason, the Kafkaesque bureaucracy of the English judicial system managed to try and convict Maya Evans for such an offence before the first of the AUgust the 1st arrestees have faced a court, despite her ceremony at the Centoph having been held in October.
4 people appeared at Bow Street Magistrates Court yesterday,, according to The Guardian:
Mr Shaer, of Stockwell, south London; Mr Gallastegui, a coach driver from Harlesden, north-west London; Stephen Blum, 54, a teacher, from Battersea, south London; and Alwyn Simpson, 49, a local government officer from west London, face charges under the act. Mr Gallastegui is also charged with obstructing a police officer. The four deny the offences.
A fifth arrestee has had the charges dropped against her on the grounds of ill health.
The case will continue to be heard today Tuesday 1oth January 2006.
Another set of peaceful demonstrators are due to face court on January 19th.