the incorrigible barbara tucker and her peaceful partner in crime 'steve' decided to go and stand outside downing street this afternoon. just before they set off from parliament square, diplomatic police laughed with them and said that they hoped they weren't going up whitehall. well they did. the diplomatic police attended briefly but didn't seem that bothered. even the armed police at the gate were enjoying a joke about the singing that accompanied the small gathering as barbara modelled her pink 'peace, justice, love for all' banner, and steve held the banner pictured above.

after a while though, two officers attended from charing cross. they declared that an illegal demonstration was taking place and that they were going to report barbara and steve for possible summons. this made barbara's 30th 'report', although she has only been summoned once. the police then tried to report 'steve' (his first) but as he did not believe he was committing any offence he only was willing to give his first name. police threatened to arrest him, and he co-operated fully stating again that he did not believe he had comitted an offence but would go to court.

despite his completely peaceful demeanour, the police insisted on handcuffing him. steve refused to make this easy for them, and resisted passively, pointing out that he was not resisting arrest, but was resisting the unnecessary use of handcuffs. by now, three policemen were using various painful holds on him attempting to cuff him, and officer cx149 was witnessed kneeing steve hard in the thigh.

after struggling for some minutes, and attracting a large crowd of mainly tourist passers-by, the police finally managed to cuff the powerful but unruffled man. steve kept his composure and his placid stance throughout. when they were trying to push him into the car, he calmy told them to let go of him and he would sit down himself. they finally got the idea, let their hold off him, and he quietly got into the back seat by himself with dignity intact.

by now, nearly fifty passers-by had gathered (mostly tourists), and steve's supporters were busy explaining to them about the repressive socpa law and its violent use they'd just witnessed.

later, a small group held a solidarity vigil outside charing cross station. they were told that he had been seen by a doctor and a nurse, and that he had assaulted a police officer - that old chestnut!

some food and drink was passed into the station, and latest news at time of posting is that steve is still refusing to give any details on the grounds that what he did was not a crime. so he has been held in custody for nine hours now, and has still not been officially charged. police are considering whether to take him to court in the morning, where it's possible but hopefully unlikely that he may face imprisonment until he co-operates by giving details.

given the fact that so many socpa 'reports' have not led to summonses, that the assault charge is laughably fictitious, that the violent arrest was witnessed by so many and videoed, and that imprisoning someone effectively for holding one banner up outside downing street might not go down too well with the mainstream press, it is clear the stakes are high.

more news in the morning........