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.

SOCPA - brian haw legal update

rikki | 19.10.2006 16:25 | SOCPA | Anti-militarism | Repression | London

brian has won the right to petition the lords to challenge whether his five-year non-stop protest outside parliament can be controlled under the new serious organised crime and police act legislation. he also has leave to appeal to the high court over the legality of police conditions restricting his current protest. no dates have been set yet for these hearings. meanwhile supporters are warmly welcomed in parliament square.

it's an open secret that the serious organised crime and police act section 132 et al (socpa) was originally introduced by the government in order to remove brian haw's long-standing demonstration outside parliament, as the banners had been a constant source of embarrassment to the members of parliament who had voted for the genocide that we have since rained on afghanistan and iraq.

when the bill received royal assent on the 7th april 2005, it required that protesters in the designated area around parliament must notify the police six days before the commencement of any demonstration. brian haw wondered how he could conform to this rule, as his protest had started several years previously. so his solicitors wrote to the home secretary on the 8th april to confirm that brian's demo must be exempt.

it took many months to receive a reply, but a few days before the law came into force august 2005, charles clarke added what was termed a 'transitional order' (this was without any parliamentary scrutiny) that included brian's protest by referring to demos that were ongoing and continuous. the high court thought the matter so important that they saw brian immediately and ruled the home secretary's addition 'ultra vires' - that is, outside the law.

so last august, brian haw, or rather, and perhaps crucially to others, his 'demonstration', became the ONLY one not requiring permission from the police. charles clarke fumed, and he appealed to the high court, where three judges, split and decided only by majority, ruled not on what was written in the act, but on what they though the government might have meant - a bizarre and unprecedented ruling. so, they decided that somehow, as if by magic, brian's protest could be controlled under socpa.

one of the many issues with this law is the fact that it effectively allows the police to be lawmakers and prosecutors, by giving them virtually unfettered power through the conditions that they can apply. they showed this, quite unashamedly when, a short while after imposing drastic and disproprtionate conditions on brian's display, they swooped in the dead of night and removed all but three metres of his display including valuable artworks and privileged private legal documents.

that night-time police action (costing £78,000, which the commissioner was caught lying about the very next day) was nothing more than punishment without trial. it was the naked brute force manifestation of the real intent of the law - to remove the embarrassment of brian's eternal reminder that the decisions made in our name in parliament had led to genocide, and that the war criminals were still at large and dangerous.

since then, a small band of dedicated supporters have continued to challenge the murderers in government and their gagging law. and in return the police have continued to lie, to use brute force against peaceful people, and to try and twist justice in order to intimidate and tire the few who remain.

but the battle goes on, and brian has recently had some good news. he has won the legal aid necessary to petition the house of lords in his own fight against the interpretation of this law and regain his clear exemption. also, he has won the right to challenge the legality of the conditions that the police put on him. this will now be appealed at the high court.

the socpa law was drafted in a hurry and fell into the hole between trying to remain within human rights legislation while trying to effectively outlaw protest.

in trying to fix this gap, charles clarke acted unlawfully (according to the high court originally). but beware, there is legislation going through parliament again, the legal and regulatory reform bill, that will mean that future ministers can do what charles clarke did and much much more, adding clauses and even entire laws without parliamentary scrutiny or approval.

as our 'democratic' leaders continue to make decisions to slaughter innocents abroad, they need even more legislation to silence the detractors and dissenters at home, and it is clear these laws are coming thick and fast. after's socpa's initial introduction last august, it was rolled out to cover nuclear sites, army bases, and other government and military installations around the country, making it far easier to arrest, detain and even attack protestors like those at fairford, brize norton and aldermarston. it really is up to people who care to challenge these laws on the ground and in the courts.

anyone is welcome to join brian haw's protest. one of his closest friends and allies, the wonderful maria gallestegui is currently injured and unable to stay at parliament square, but a small group of supporters regularly help brian out and some stay overnight in sleeping bags on the grass. please don't come and be a burden, but do please come and support in any ways you can. your country needs you!

rikki
- e-mail: rikkiindymedia@googlemail.com

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. small correction — rikki
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