HOME | IMC UK | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Support Us

Oxford Indymedia

LIBERTY Slams Use of Anti Terrorism Act to Suppress Peace Protests - Did the Home Secretary Lie to Parliament?

dave ( uploaded by ian ) | 17.07.2003 13:41 | Anti-militarism | Iraq | Repression | Terror War | London | Oxford

LIBERTY, the human rights group, has released a 13 page report focusing on the policing of anti-war demonstrators around USAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, during the concentrated bombing of Iraq earlier this year. The damning report details fundamental breaches of the European Convention on Human Rights in the extensive use of anti-terrorism laws to prevent citizens taking part in legitimate protest and to harrass them (by mid-april the campaign group Gloucestershire Weapons Inspectors alone had recorded 89 stop and searches under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 carried out against just 26 people!), as well as the excessive use of various other public order legislation. At its most extreme an anti-terrorist order was served on an 11-year-old girl (her father is now seeking legal redress) and 3 coach loads of demonstrators were "kidnapped" by police (see indymedia feature), also the subject of a legal action (also see Fairford Coach Action).

Download full Liberty report: (pdf)
Corporate Media Coverage of Liberty report
War on Freedom and Democracy (10 page Statewatch pdf, Sept 02)



Importantly the report also accuses the Home Secretary of misleading Parliament, when he denied that the Terrorism Act 2000 was being used to prevent protests at Fairford despite evidence that dozens of protesters had been stopped and searched under Section 44 of the Terrorism Act. Liberty are now calling for a House of Commons Select Committee on Home Affairs to investigate why powers under the Terrorism Act were used against peaceful protesters. In particular it would like to know the extent to which policing policies were dictated by Cabinet, the Home Secretary and the US armed forces.

Indymedia reports also detailed Section 44 of the Terrorism Act being used at other military bases, as well as in central London against peace activists (see reports (1),(2)) and even at a theatrical Friends of The Earth protest against BP!

Download full Liberty report: Casualty of War - 8 weeks of counter-terrorism in rural England (pdf)
Corporate Media Coverage of Liberty report
See also: Can you spot the difference? 3 personal accounts of British citizens protesting under Britain's terror laws (Liberty pdf)
Liberty Terrorism Issues page
Fairford Coach Action Website How 120+ People were "Coach-napped" on their way from London to Fairford (inc pics, video, audio and reports)
Civil Liberties Suspended at Northwood Military HQ (Indymedia Feature April 03 scroll)
War on Freedom and Democracy (10 page pdf essay from Statewatch, Sept 02)

dave ( uploaded by ian )

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. stop and search(es) — matt
Publish your news
-->

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Oxford 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

IMCs


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