Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS BARRED FROM PEACEFUL PROTEST

Fairford Legal Support Team | 22.03.2003 18:11

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS BARRED FROM PEACEFUL PROTEST
Mass abuse of police powers at USAF Fairford

PRESS RELEASE
FAIRFORD 22 MARCH 2003-03-22
FROM: LEGAL SUPPORT TEAM
CONTACT: 07887 585 721

HUNDREDS OF PROTESTERS BARRED FROM PEACEFUL PROTEST
Mass abuse at USAF Fairford

This afternoon, between 2,000-3,000 peaceful protesters took part in a march and rally at USAF Fairford in what was a heavily over-policed environment. Police used two sections of the 1986 Public Order Act (12 & 14) to impose conditions and restrictions on the march and rally, making it a criminal offence to take alternative routes or at differing times. Police had also blocked off many roads in the area. Officers from as far afield as Greater Manchester and the West Midlands were drafted in for the day.

A reported 1,000 officers were on duty for the demonstration, many in full riot gear and on horses.
Four people were arrested. Two under the 1994 CJPOA, for allegedly failing to remove masks and two others whose reasons for arrest remain unknown.

The legal support team are particularly concerned at the large number of seemingly random stop and search incidents on the day. An estimated 25 incidents of vehicle and person searches under S60 CJPOA were reported to the legal support team during the day. The vehicle and members of the legal support team were. Reasons given included “search for offensive weapons likely to cause damage” at the base or “injury to airbase staff”.

In a most worrying development, three coaches carrying protesters from London, were turned away from the protest and escorted back to the city, with several police forces carrying out escort duties from region to region Amongst the passengers was the 64-year old aunt of one of those killed in New York on 11 September 2001. On arrival in London a number of police vehicles were waiting at Euston.

This is yet another restriction on the right to protest at Fairford. Over the past few weeks hundreds of people have been stopped and searched in the vicinity on the base by police using powers under the 2000 Terrorism Act.

Protesters are also extremely concerned at notices fixed to the fence at Fairford stating the “the use of deadly force is authorised”, and are calling for questions to be asked in the House of Commons, about who has authorised this and in what circumstances such force might be used and by whom

For more information about recent protests at Fairford see  http://www.gwi.org.uk

Fairford Legal Support Team

Additions

Police tactics used, 3 Fairford coaches

22.03.2003 21:15

"You will be escorted back to the motorway," announced the officer to the three London to Fairford coaches, after stating they had found in their search "reason to believe that it would not be a peaceful protest."

The escort from the stop and search point about 10 miles outside Fairford started out as such, but it soon became apparent we were to be escorted all the way back to London, with no stops allowed.

At this point we were cruising along with the rest of the traffic.

When people on the coaches started to get agitated, of course needing to use the toilets and such, they started posting signs on the windows: "Democracy?" "Freedom?" "We have been prevented from protesting peacfully"

AT THIS POINT, in a telling moment, we were sectioned off from the rest of the traffic on the road until we reached London, and repeatedly prevented from pulling off at services.

The denial of access to Fairford was an extreme violation of civil liberties, and the literal sectioning off tactics on the escort back, preventing others on the road from seeing just what they were doing and from seeing protesters' signs, was just as bad.

Video from within the coach will be available soon.

David Kaplowitz
mail e-mail: dkapz@yahoo.com


Soviet Style Tactics

26.03.2003 11:00

The police tactics remind me of the way they used to prevent people demonstrating in Red Square in pre-Glasnost Moscow.

The only difference being of course that the KGB were condemned by the world, whilst the behaviour of the UK police is ignored by the world ....

Paul Marsh
- Homepage: http://www.londonclasswar.org


Media Misinformation?

11.04.2003 15:23

A friend from the legal team and a journalist who attended the discussions at the recent public meeting over the role of the media in wartime has told me a worrying story about the Fairford incident.

Apparently when the legal team and groups involved in the protests approached the media over the incident, BBC London said they were interested. Yet they did not wish to run with the story there and then, but several days later. When journalists who had been on board one of the coaches offered footage to BBC London they were told the pitch of the story was that the peace movement was being infiltrated by the more extreme anti-globalisation movement!

In recent days some of the stories I've seen run in the press would seem to follow these lines. It would appear then to be a line that some have been waiting to peddle.

Worrying, but perhaps not surprising.

Andrew P


Comments

Hide the following comment

Police tactics used, 3 Fairford coaches

22.03.2003 21:17

"You will be escorted back to the motorway," announced the officer to the three London to Fairford coaches, after stating they had found in their search "reason to believe that it would not be a peaceful protest."

The escort from the stop and search point about 10 miles outside Fairford started out as such, but it soon became apparent we were to be escorted all the way back to London, with no stops allowed.

At this point we were cruising along with the rest of the traffic.

When people on the coaches started to get agitated, of course needing to use the toilets and such, they started posting signs on the windows: "Democracy?" "Freedom?" "We have been prevented from protesting peacfully"

AT THIS POINT, in a telling moment, we were sectioned off from the rest of the traffic on the road until we reached London, and repeatedly prevented from pulling off at services.

The denial of access to Fairford was an extreme violation of civil liberties, and the literal sectioning off tactics on the escort back, preventing others on the road from seeing just what they were doing and from seeing protesters' signs, was just as bad.

Video from within the coach will be available soon.

David Kaplowitz
mail e-mail: dkapz@yahoo.com


Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech