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.

Hunger Strike in Parliament Square - day 25

Paul O'Hanlon | 20.01.2013 00:32 | SOCPA | Iraq | Other Press | Policing | London | World

Long term Parliament Square peace campaigner Barbara Tucker has lived round the clock opposite the Houses of Parliament for over 7 years. She has slept in the open for over a year now without a tent and has been treated for exposure. She is on a hunger strike in the hope of getting her confiscated tent back.






















Hunger Strike in Parliament Square


Day 25 Sunday January 20th 2013


As a blanket of cold descends upon the capital, the long term Parliament Square peace campaign opposite the Houses of Parliament continues in sub-zero temperatures without a tent and only the shade of a green umbrella for protection against the elements.

Now in its 12th year it was instigated by the late Brian Haw in 2001 who was originally protesting against the sanctions on Iraq which at the time had claimed the lives of half a million children.

Brian’s protest caused the authorities no end of problems as he and his anti-war placards and banners were a constant reminder of all the lies that were told in the run up to the attack on Iraq in 2003. Members of Parliament had to pass his huge collection of displays and peace messages every time they went in and out of the Parliament. Many of them were unhappy about being reminded of the flimsy case for war.

The television and newspapers were likewise unenthusiastic about Brian and his campaign which received scant media coverage.

Then Home Secretary David Blunkett introduced the bill SOCPA (Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005) which was aimed at removing Brian by banning protests with 1 km (about half a mile) of Parliament without police permission. The legislation was poorly drafted and Brian successfully argued in court that the act did not apply to him as his campaign predated it and the law could not be applied retrospectively.

His campaign was eventually reduced in size in May 2006 from 40 metres to just 3 metres by a night time raid of some 78 police which cost a staggering £27,000.

Brian continued to protest with his truncated display despite numerous arrests and assaults. He was joined in December 2005 by Melbourne born Barbara Tucker who has remained to this day.

Although he incurred the wrath of the politicians he was an inspirational figure to many in the peace movement and he won the Channel 4 News award for Most Inspiring Political Figure of 2006 garnering 54% of the votes cast. At a gala evening in February 2007 introduced by news presenter Jon Snow and attended by the likes of former cabinet ministers Jonathan Aitken and Charles Clark, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop, future First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond, Brian with Barbara Tucker in support accepted his award. Gen Sir Richard Dannatt, then head of the British Army, who embarrassed the Government by saying troops should be withdrawn from Iraq, came second with 18 per cent. The Archbishop of York got 12% while Tony Blair was backed by eight per cent and David Cameron by six per cent.

Brian sadly passed away from cancer in June 2011 after which Barbara has continued at the helm. Mrs Tucker or `Babs` has been arrested an astonishing 47 times in her 7 years in the square, usually on charge of `unauthorised demonstration`.

She has served two short spells in Holloway prison as well as suffering constant harassment from police, heritage wardens and passing rowdies.
Until January 2012 she had a tent but that was confiscated under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRSA). Since then she has slept in a chair on the pavement and now tries to sleep under a large green umbrella wrapped up in multiple layers of clothing.

Barbara took the decision to go on hunger strike in the hope of getting her tent back, starting on December 27th 2012.

The British media tend to ignore the campaign though there has been coverage on foreign TV stations.

I have tried to get the mainstream media interested in this remarkable campaign but with limited success. The Independent did a two page spread on day 3,000 in August 2009 when Brian was still alive and another piece on the 10th anniversary on June 2nd 2011, shortly before Brian died. The Evening Standard has done several short pieces while the most incredible response came from the news desk of the Sun (this from a London based journalist remember) who asked “Where is Parliament Square?” (!!).

Since Barbara started her hunger strike the London Evening Standard had a small piece on page 32 on Friday 4th January while Iranian Press TV did an interview on the same day. The mainstream newspapers were largely uninterested, the news desk of the Times rather callously saying “We don’t do hunger strikes.” The BBC has nothing, not even on its website. A hunger strike outside the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa by native American Theresa Spence did get on to the BBC website but the Westminster one has been effectively blacked out.

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) did an interview with Barbara on Friday 11th January which was expected to be shown on their rolling 24 hour new service.

Small circulation left wing papers the Morning Star and Socialist Worker had a little coverage while green/left magazine Red Pepper expressed some interest.

From the Evening Standard of January 4th 2013:
 http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/parliament-square-peace-protester-stages-hunger-strike-8438307.html?origin=internalSearch

The Press TV interview on January 4th 2013:
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFRhB_K4qDg

The campaign website: www.brianhaw.tv


Barbara gave her reasons for going on hunger strike:

Hunger Strike: Started on December 27th 2012.

“My name is Babs Tucker.


****Freedom**** of Expression is the most important right you can exercise to bring about change peacefully.

I did not come to Parliament Square to die and I do not want to die. I came to Parliament Square because people everywhere are entitled to - live - in peace, without the constant illegal wars being waged by government.

I have been campaigning in Parliament Square, with Brian Haw's Parliament Square Peace Campaign, 24/7 for seven years, during which time I have been unlawfully arrested 47 times and imprisoned twice without trial in Holloway Women's Prison in North London.


Our campaign's 24/7 presence reflects the fact that while wars rage and Parliament continues to only sit part-time, with many long breaks, the people do care about one another, all the time, in all weather.”


You can read the full statement on:  http://brianhaw.tv/index.php/blog/1361-31122012-hunger-strike-started-27th-december-2012


Barbara is strong willed and is likely to see this through. She does not want to die and I do not want her to die. The situation should be closely watched in the coming weeks and I would urge those interested and sympathetic to write to their MPs and to Mayor Boris Johnson and badger the media to give this brave woman some decent media coverage.




Paul O’Hanlon



Paul O'Hanlon
- e-mail: o_hanlon@hotmail.com

Comments

Display the following 3 comments

  1. There are reasons — Charity
  2. I did not write the piece with all those comments — Paul O'Hanlon
  3. War Crimes and Human rights breaches — Peoples Assembly
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