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SOCPA - brian haw arrested and some of his display removed overnight

rikki | 21.10.2006 07:00 | Anti-militarism | Repression | London

a woman attacked brian haw's parliament square display at about 5.15 this morning. but brian himself was arrested under the public order act, in an organised police swoop, over the content of the display. it is unclear if the woman was arrested. one of brian's supporters was actively prevented from taking photographs of her.

at around 5.15 this morning, a woman approached brian haw's protest display and attempted to destroy part of it. she grabbed one of the green collapsible chairs and was waving it around, trying to demolish the washing line of bloodied baby clothes that was erected a week ago in front of his small placard. within minutes of her attack, there was a surprisingly large and efficient police response, and although the woman was apprehended it is unclear whether she was arrested. what is clear though, is that police threatened one of brian's supporters with arrest for trying to take a photograph of the woman while police were blocking the sight-line. and brian himself was arrested under section 4b of the public order act for 'displaying writing, a sign or other visible representation which is threatening, abusive or insulting, thereby causing another person harassment, alarm, or distress'.

brian was taken to belgravia police station and police took the 'offending' display away too.


there are several suspicious elements to this story

within minutes of the early morning incident, police arrived in three vans and two cars. this large entourage was also accompanied by several community support officers on foot, as well as several sergeants and an inspector! was the rest of charing cross crime-free at that time on a friday night/saturday morning?

the woman had grabbed a collapsible green chair that brian uses, and was waving it around while trying to trash the display. officers have removed the washing line as 'evidence' but have not removed the green chair.

although it was police from belgravia that effected brian's arrest, they were in charing cross vehicles.

belgravia station is not responding to requests from supporters for information, claiming that they do not open until 7am.

in one phone-call to the station, brian was heard in the background shouting that they weren't letting him phone his solicitor - at this point the receptionist hung up.

since police have brian's details already, any arrest under 4(b) wouldn't normally require continued detention, and it has been shown in court previously that photographs (which the police took) are sufficient evidence in these sort of cases. the seizure of the 'offending' items appears legally unnecessary.

attached is audio of an exchange between barbara tucker and police recorded earlier - you can hear the policeman saying 'fuck off' about 52" into the clip.

rikki
- e-mail: rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com

Additions

8.20am

21.10.2006 07:33

brian is still held at belgravia - his supporters have been told that he has spoken to his lawyers, but the lawyers have not confirmed that yet, so there is some doubt.

police are playing down the woman's offence, but it has now emerged that she was attempting to tear down the picasso 'peace' sign and the amnesty international 'stop torture, protect humans' sign - are police going to claim that these are offensive too?

in another example of 'guilty until proven innocent' and a small rerun of the 23rd may, police have gone ahead and used force to confiscate part of brian's display, telling him to argue it out in court later - as the policeman puts it when asked why he is taking the baby clothes "discuss that with the courts".

rikki


11am

21.10.2006 10:02

brian is still held at belgravia. there are unconfirmed reports that the woman was released after being cautioned, but other reports suggest she may still be in custody. i'll try to clarify this later.

the duty officer at the police station stated that brian's release was imminent, but that was nearly an hour ago.

police say the reason brian was taken to belgravia was because they were the first officers on the scene, but they were in charing cross vehicles.

rikki
mail e-mail: rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com


brian just released

21.10.2006 10:27

brian was finally released at 11.15. he has been told he is on bail for a public order offence.

meanwhile the custody sergeant has confirmed that the woman who attacked the display has been released after being cautioned.

rikki


Not the first agent provocateur of course.

21.10.2006 12:28

The mystery man remains a mystery.
The mystery man remains a mystery.

Readers with a longish memory will remember a similar situation where police arrested six people in Parliament Square, yet only four came to court (one was excused due to terminal illness). The sixth is widely believed to have been an agent provocateur, for despite his picture and an appeal for information having appears on blogs ever since, he has never been identified.

This was on the first day that SOCPA came in to force and it was this mystery man's jostling that caused the police to come forward and start arrests.

See  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/01/331285.html for contemporaneous court reports.

mini mouse


brian's attacker

21.10.2006 21:56


this is a picture of brian's attacker.

despite the fact that this woman was waving a chair around, committed criminal damage, and apparently was so distressed by brian's display that police felt it necessary to arrest him, she was let off with jsut a caution.

strangers in the night!

rikki


Comments

Hide the following 10 comments

...

21.10.2006 08:36

I hope that someone seriously considers countercharging this "mysterious" woman.

Perhaps we should take MArk Thomas's lead and get together as many names as possible to flood the police with legitimate demonstrations- irrespective of whether they actually take place/part.

Sparticus


This is old news!

21.10.2006 09:18

This is very old news. Brian Haws massive display was taken down by police in an early morning operation several months ago! Brain was also arrested for breaching the terms of his demonstration by allowing his display to grow to many yards in length. He was later released and has not yet been charged. During this event to remove Brian's massive display there was no attack by any irate woman.

Since then Brain has continued to keep up his 24 hour protest but with a much smaller display of only about four yards in length.

Bring the war home


please ignore "bring the war home"

21.10.2006 10:07

since i covered all of the incidents you mention back in may, i think i'm in a position to say you're talking b**ll**ks.

brian is currently in belgravia at 11am on 21st october

rikki


offensive

21.10.2006 14:17

I find that Tony Bliars oily weasel denial of his major part in thousands of deaths of innocent civilians causes me and many others acute alarm and distress
Please can the Police arrange for someone to hit his front door with a plastic chair and then take him away
Please deport him to Iraq where I am sure he could go from town to town and deliver a rousing speech in each market place reminding the Iraqi people how lucky they are he brought them democracy
On the subject of the offensive washing line,as a registered nurse I can confirm that babies injured by coalition force munitions as well as children and adults may well lose blood and that it is the people whose policies and actions lead to that loss of blood we should be alarmed by

mike d
mail e-mail: solidaritypark@hotmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.myspace.com/solidaritypark


hmmmmmmmm

21.10.2006 22:55

she looks concerned about being arrested

tipobarra


Filth Puppets

21.10.2006 23:59

The cop (left) has obviously been drinking far too much alchohol (check his bright red nose - it wasn't that cold!!) . The female looks pretty spaced out and unbothered by the situ in hand (who the fuck is she and why did she do this shit?).

I wonder who's been persuading who to do what and I also wonder what who may have been given in return for to doing what... Work that out!

X

another_bastard


hmmmmmmm continued

23.10.2006 12:38

Is it just me or does the woman who was 'throwing a chair around' look ill.
She looks distracted to me ie. not that bothered with the arrest, not struggling, resigned compliance.
Could her identity be found out by asking to look at the police arrest/caution records for that night or getting a lawyer to do so?
Had she been previously detained that night before the incident at Parliament Square?
Did anyone try to find the identity of the 'mystery' man through legal channels?

the cur


Reduce the cause to the man- reduce the man to the man's troubles

23.10.2006 18:14

None of you need guess why Blair uses 'anti-personel weapons' against Brain Haw. Blair knows that HIS spirit won't be broken. Blair knows that Mr Haw will be back as soon as possible. So...

Blair is about changing the focus.

Rikki, WHY WAS YOUR PHOTO SO CRAP?

If *I* was around in person, I'd damn well make sure Brian's display had a photo that DID NOT please Blair, and CLEARLY contained the words from the protest art. Yeah, some of you are saying that you can still easily make it out, but that is not the point. The photo could have been well composed, contained the word "HOLOCAUST" clearly, doing Mr Haw maximum justice, and doing Blair maximum harm.

As for the idiot comments about the women being ill, or some such junk, please grow up. The security services plan and execute operations against Brian Haw with care and precision. They rely on the incompetence (including in analysis) to be wholly on our side.

Since the reason Brian Haw dedicates his life to protest has been ignored once again, I will re-state it.

Blair, with the active and wiiling assistance of Foreign Office operatives like Craig Murray (the guy who fronted British Intelligence in a key foreign state providing active military and political support for the "war on terror" genocide-meme), has planned and executed the crime of GENOCIDE in nations including Chechnya (Blair was an active and key partner of Putin), Afghanistan, and Iraq, and plans to spread and increase the rate of such crimes with his approaching War with Iran.

Distraction is everything. Why do you think that even today, Blair's New Reich agents are widely spreading the speech by Craig Murray that "Blair has gone" (how much attention will you give to a person that you think is no longer a problem- see the tactic and understand now why Blair's people here attacked me over my comments about Murray).

Mr Brian Haw is just about the only famous face in the anti-Blair anti-war movement that you know is 100% genuine, and the only famous face whose message is told with the right powerful words, include holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity. This is why the official anti-war movement, whose command and control is entirely in the hands of British Intelligence, attempted to ignore Brian Haw with various events that they arranged (a policy that was only changed when it became clear that the concern of ordinary members was making it backfire).

Brian Haw is genuine. Galloway, Livingstone, and Benn are not. Whether Craig Murray has seen the light matters not one jot, given that his previous willing crimes massively compromise him, and place him under the control of British Intelligence handlers (hence the existence of the so-called 'friends of Craig Murray').

So for us it's DISTRACTION, DISTRACTION, DISTRACTION.

For Blair it's PLAN FOR THE GENOCIDE OF IRAN.

For Blair's New Reich agents it's BUY THE MASTER AS MUCH TIME AS POSSIBLE.

Blair has exterminated in excess of 650,000 Human lives in his GENOCIDE of Iraq. This adds to the greater than one million Humans butchered in Iraq by sanctions kept in place by forces like Blair and the UK Foreign Office (despite the fact that they all knew that Iraq had fully complied with all demands, and had to constantly fake evidence to say otherwise). Brian Haw thinks about this daily, and so should ALL OF YOU.

THERE IS NO HUMAN CURRENTLY IN PRISON ANYWHERE ON THIS PLANET THAT IS EVEN ONE-THOUSANDTH AS EVIL OR DEPRAVED AS TONY BLAIR.

NOT "Blair the liar" as Blair's own psychological warfare team demands that you call him (calculating that "liar" is the least damaging name a modern politician can ever be called), but BLAIR THE GENOCIDAL MANIAC DRAGGING THE PLANET TOWARDS ITS FIRST AND LAST GLOBAL NUCLEAR AND BIOLOGICAL WAR.

People like Craig Murray tell you that "Blair has gone" (so you can stop worrying). People like Brain Haw tell you that Blair and his allies have carried out unspeakable crimes, and if unstopped, are on the verge of plunging our whole Planet into a global War of Genocide.

Brain Haw will always be back until that day Blair is ready to imprison and execute all dissenters (rapidly approaching). In the meantime, for god's sake give the vast majority of your time and thought to THE REASON WHY MR HAW PROTESTS. Don't be distracted, and don't let anyone distract you, no matter how genuine their concerns appear.

If you hate the action of Blair's uniformed thugs in London, think of something practical to do about it. One of the best is to demand that your kids at school are protected from ANY and ALL propaganda visits by their local police force, citing the daily national abuses of power by the police in the UK. You cannot stop the police entering the school for the reason of law enforcement, but you can over the issue of PR or propaganda. If the police suffer blowback over their disgusting abuses of power, a correcting push is placed in the system. This is really a form of 'working to rule' (ie., only accepting those things the rules demand).

Also, the report of this abuse of Mr Haw includes proof of police using the word 'fuck'. This is an offense daily punished with ticket fines. While seemingly stupid, under the current climate, a big thing can be made of this use of language. The individual policeman should be targetted for constant reference in court, and constant reference in any press materials used by our cause to raise attention to the event. At this stage, Blair's weapons can be turned against him by people smart enough to understand how to do this. Look for a chink in their armour, and go for it.




twilight


Anti-war movement & Blair

23.10.2006 22:27

"Mr Brian Haw is just about the only famous face in the anti-Blair anti-war movement that you know is 100% genuine, and the only famous face whose message is told with the right powerful words, include holocaust, genocide, and crimes against humanity."

I think there is a tendency in the anti-war movement to attempt to remain somehow politically neutral. As such this means that it would be false to describe the anti-war movement to be anti-Blair. This was seen at election time when the Stop the War Coalition took a neutral position to the point where even a proposal to take a positon calling for people not to vote for pro-war candidates and parties, which was not even dictatating which those should be and therefore leaving the choice up to the voter, was rejected. Instead they took a weak position, not even anti-war, of telling voters to consider the positions of candidates in relation to the war. Although the anti-war movement should not be defined solely by the Stop the War Coalition this will have had a considerable effect on any campaigning by local Stop the War groups around the country. The Stop the War Coalition will make anti-Blair statements up to a point but obviously decided it could not at election time. This was in my opinion the biggest mistake it made since the war started, where it could have brought the campaigning to a climax when it mattered most.

I propose that this idea of political neutrality to be false and that the anti-war movement should take a clear position against pro-war candidates and parties, and not be afraid to name them. It seems obvious to me really, but not to the others in my local Stop the War group.

Brian B
- Homepage: http://www.brianb.uklinux.net/antiwar-discuss/


"Rikki, WHY WAS YOUR PHOTO SO CRAP? "

24.10.2006 22:55

because, twilight, it was taken on a different day and there was a lot of traffic and i didn't want to get run over.

tell you what, since you're the great genius telling everyone else how to behave, why don't you come out from your anonymous ivory tower and take the perfect pic yourself.

either that, or stop attacking the very people who are actually trying to do something useful.

peace.

rikki
mail e-mail: rikki@googlemail.com


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