5 or 6 cyclists, out of the 36 who were undemocratically stopped at Upper Grosvenor Place, evaded the blockade. I made my way towards the Dorchester and was stopped by police in Park Lane and dragged to the side of the road, as I was still expressing the wish to democratically protest further down the road within earshot of the arms dealers. Three of us at that locatiion were stopped and searched under Pace. I was offered the choice of arrest or go to the pen opposite the Dorchester. I said I didn't care. The white officer seemed keen, but other oficers didn't regard it as proportionate, and I agreed to go to the pen.

Given that the police had several hundred officers there I'm sure protest could have been accommodated on the south side of Park Lane by Stanhope Gardens where i have demonstrated before (about 1999/2000).

The strange thing was the way officers on the ground used `safety' as a justification for their actions. When pulling me out of the road i was told it was unsafe to cycle on a busy red route! In the pen i was told that if we demonstrated closer to the Dorchester a terrorist might infiltrate us and it might be unsafe for us!

~~~^^^~~~~simon

The police issued a Section 12 to prevent Critical Mass cycling down either Park Lane or Curzon Street. After being stuck at the top of Upper Grovenor Street which feeds directly into Park Lane, we were surrounded by cops awaiting to be issued with the order for atleast 15 mins, upon seeking clarification with the superindendent, it was established that the cyclists had the option of either proceeding to the pen on the other side of Park Lane opposite the hotel, or continuing to cycle around the surrounding streets around and about the hotel (with continued police presence). An announcement was made on the soundsystem and all the cyclists came together and decided to not go to the pen but continue cycling.

The cycle convoy continued around surrounding streets, passing by many bars, spreading the message of denouncing the Arms Fairs, with facts that make it of direct relevant to ordinary Joe-Public such as the fact that taxpayers subsidise the arms industry by up to £12 million a year. After over about an hour, we reached Piccadilly Circus where we stopped in the middle of the street to deliberate what to do next, with our 2 MC's on the tandem with the soundsystem continuing to deliver much biting polemic. Unfortunately, one of the number got arrested for not moving into the pavement quick enough after the cops insisted we make way out of the road. He was charged, along with 7 others who were arrested for minor offences at the Dorchester.

While at the nick, a man came in claiming his car had been nicked outside the Dorchester Hotel, where 200 cops were in attendance (an indictment of proper policing you might reason!) He wasn't an arms dealer - to a few of us, he had a familiar face and we think he was a tv actor!!!!

As one of the three cyclists mentioned above who was given the ultimatum on Park Lane of getting arrested or joining the Park Lane pen, this, and the array of other incidents that night, raises the question of whatever happened to the right to freely protest? The right to freely protest in a meaningful way that is, since the retort from the police is always along the lines of, “We’ve given you a place to protest where you are protected and `safe’, and so your rights are met”.

What distorted and lunatic thinking is this? Welcome to an evening of `freedom to protest’:

First, the critical mass is banged up in a side street before even getting within sight or sound of the Dorchester, where no arms dealer would have even the slightest whiff of them being there. The only protest they were free to do was shout at the cars streaming one a second down Park Lane (not a bad idea if they had done, but not what they were there for).

Second, threatened with arrest for attempting to cycle down Park Lane. Real freedom there!

Third, pulled over at least 200 metres from the Dorchester (my apologies to those innocent individuals I called “Murderers!”, but I hadn’t realized I had been stopped so far short of the target!), again out of sight and mind of the diners on death.

Fourth, stopped and searched under Section 44 `for the purpose of preventing terrorism’. Terrorism? What, in case I throw my flapjack at a besuited arms dealer, cause him to stumble on the steps, drop his briefcase and explode the Exocet missile he has just purchased? Ah, now I get it!

Fifth, under Section 14, Public Order Act 1986 (which gives police authority to restrict the place of a public assembly) two others and myself told we can protest in the pen or get arrested – our choice. A fine choice given the right to freely protest.

Sixth, I witness a woman arrested with over-the-top aggressive force whilst trying to climb into the pen – yes, the pen which police had designated as the only area we could `legally’ protest in! What?! A sergeant said to me later, “She was arrested for an earlier offence. If you knew what she had done you wouldn’t think she was being treated roughly”. No sergeant, that doesn’t wash! The woman was acting peacefully at the time of her arrest, and was suddenly grabbed forcibly, taken over to the railings by five strapping male officers who forced her head down and bent her in half, then dragged her off up the street. Even if someone had just murdered their granny, such violence would not have been warranted if they had been acting as peaceably as this woman at the time of arrest.

And meanwhile, the people who commit the heinous crimes of manufacturing, buying and selling the weapons used worldwide to slaughter millions, are caressed within the confines of the Dorchester Hotel, wined and dined, protected from the embarrassment of seeing or hearing a hundred or so protestors.

I went through a whole gamut of emotions last night: from rage, to broken-heartedness at how upside down the situation is, to despair, powerlessness, but then finally emerged at the end of the night with energy and determination quadrupled. If they think that penning us in, undermining our effectiveness, threatening arrest for exercising an age-old right, is going to weaken us, think again! Such tactics will only make us more determined to succeed.