June 2007 Archives

The Sunday Times has a front page story by the usually well informed / well leaked to David Cracknell:

The Sunday Times June 24, 2007 Brown to allow Iraq protests David Cracknell Political Editor

GORDON BROWN is to make a symbolic gesture to critics of the Iraq war by allowing antiwar protesters to demonstrate and march outside parliament.

This will reverse legislation introduced by Tony Blair two years ago to restrict the rights of people to camp on Parliament Square and install banners criticising the government.

We will believe it when we see the relevant legislation repealed.

The move, one of the announcements planned for the new prime minister’s first 100 days in office, comes amid encouraging opinion polls for Brown. It will be an early sign that Brown intends to be more sympathetic to critics of the war, although it will disappoint those who have been calling for him to declare an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

The SOCPA section 132 legislation affects all protests and undefined "demonstrations" not just anti-Iraq war ones.

The restored right to protest outside parliament will be combined with plans to bolster the protection of the Palace of Westminster and key ministries and government buildings along Whitehall. The Sunday Times has seen a memo from Sir Richard Mottram, chairman of the joint intelligence committee, outlining plans to erect barriers, walls, balustrades and bollards around Parliament Square.

If these further restrict the access of the public to lobby their Members' of Parliament, and to observe Parliamentary democracy in action, then the terrorists will have won another propaganda victory.

Brown believes the right of the public to protest and demonstrate is crucial to democracy, although he is said to be aware of MPs’ concerns that previous noisy demonstrations in Parliament Square have caused an eyesore and distracted workers in nearby buildings.

One Brown ally said last night: “The legitimate right to peaceful protests, marches and rallies does not mean the right to set up permanent eyesores in the square or the right to abuse policemen and passers-by.”

[...]

Brown’s decision to revisit the ban on protests follows his promise to restore the primacy of parliament and to give MPs more opportunities to hold the government to account, including allowing them the right to vote on any future military action.

The government introduced legislation in July 2005 banning unauthorised protests within half a mile of parliament. Brian Haw, the long-time protester, has been allowed to remain camped in the square as a court ruled that his protest had begun before the legislation came into force.

Yesterday, demonstrators took advantage of confusion over Haw’s legal situation by setting up a small antiwar camp in the square as police looked on.

[...]

One thing which has obviously not changed under Gordon Brown, is the briefing of the Sunday mainstream media with supposedly secret Government memos regarding national security, when it suits the political spin doctors to do so., in order to fly a political kite, without bothering to have a debate in Parliament about the issues involved.

The Cabinet Office and Downing Street are not public areas, but this story is relevant to the identical SOCPA section 128 perimeters around the Palace of Westminster and Portcullis House Protected Sites, which used to have public areas until 1st June.

The Sunday Express carries this story, which the Press Association and other media have pocked up / copied.

The Sunday Express
COUPLE 'BYPASS PM'S SECURITY
' Sunday June 10,2007

Two intruders were able to walk into Downing Street - bypassing the wrought-iron security gates installed to protect the Prime Minister from bombers, it has emerged.

Obadiah Marius and his girlfriend strolled into the street after wandering through a neighbouring Whitehall building unchallenged, a No 10 spokesman confirmed.

The incident occurred on Monday afternoon when Marius, 44, and his partner walked into 70 Whitehall, which houses the Cabinet Office, off the street.

How did these two get past the supposedly always manned security desk at the entrance to 70 Whitehall ?

Unchecked, the pair found themselves at the rear of the building which backs on to Downing Street.

The Designated / Protected Site boundary covers Downing Street roadway and pavements and the north side of the road i.e. the Cabinet Office and Numbers 9, 10. 11 and 12 Downing Street.

downin~2.gif
The route allowed them to circumnavigate the gates installed by Margaret Thatcher to thwart terrorists amid the IRA bombing campaign in the 1980s and they were then arrested under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act.

There are no warning signs around the perimeter of the Cabinet Office building at 70 Whitehall.

Marius, 44, appeared in court on Thursday but his girlfriend, identified only as Miss Smith, was released without charge.

"I got into an area I should never have been allowed into," Marius told the Sunday Express.

"It really is a disgrace. I think they are going to drop the charges."

[...]


Brian Haw is today, 2nd June 2007, currently celebrating his 6th year of continuous peace protest, day and night, in Parliament Square.

With no publicity or public consultation, or any interest from the mainstream media, and no debate or scrutiny from Members of Parliament, the access of members of the General Public to meet with and lobby and observe their elected Members of Parliament and the unelected Lords has been further reduced as of 1st June 2007.

See our previous blog entry:- Palace of Westminster and Portcullis House now Designated under SOCPA Section 128 - even the previously public areas !

Some perimeter warning signs have now appeared around some of the Designated parts of the Parliamentary Estate. They say:

Trespass on this Site
is a criminal offence.

This is a protected site
under Section 128
of the Serious Organised Crime
and Police Act 2005.

At the Victoria Embankment end of Derby Gate:

Victoria_Embankment_2_300.jpg

N.B. there are no such signs visible at the glass fronted public entrance and lobby to the Committee Rooms in Portcullis House.

At the base of "Big Ben" St. Stephen's Clock Tower on Bridge Street (which has been scaled by demonstrators in the past):

Palace_of_Westminster__Bridge_Street_300.jpg

The vast array of black painted spiky railings, black painted concrete barriers, black CCTV surveillance camera "death star" mountings and now these "Protected Site" signs, all just show how paranoid and unfriendly and out of touch with the electorate, Parliament has now become. No wonder politicians are held in such increasing contempt by the public.

Palace_of_Westminster_3_300.jpg

Note that Section 128 Offence of trespassing on designated site of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 was amended by Section 12 Trespassing etc. on nuclear sites of the Terrorism Act 2006, which, for some unfathomable reason, decided to replace the word "designated" with "protected" in the text of the clauses (but not in the sub-title of Section 128). This now lumps together military bases , military nuclear, civil nuclear and other designated sites into the category of Protected Sites.

Protected against what, exactly ? Not against terrorists, since many other laws would already apply. Presumably the protection is against otherwise peaceful demonstrators, with the collateral damage side effect, of further restricting the rights of the general public, even when they are not demonstrating or protesting peacefully.


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

  • Stuart Holmes: With ref. To comment: SOCPA ss 132-138 law is still read more
  • Terence Buttle: From the tone of the reply I suspect that Keith read more
  • Peaceful Demonstrator: You can check to see that the Constitutional Reform and read more
  • Peaceful Demonstrator: SOCPA ss 132-138 law is still being used arbitrarily, as read more
  • aj: Brian Haw your a British legend and Britain needs more read more
  • Emma: I live in hope that your protest stops falling on read more
  • robbie hardy: Brian - Your the Hero who couldn't turn away... Your read more
  • thanks so much for being at the spot: I just read your peace on Brian Haw. I live read more
  • Keith: Is this the Alan Buttle now banned from demonstrating because read more
  • Terence Claude Buttle: Your photograph of Brian Haw has prompted me to use 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)