Copy of a mail received from Liberty:


Subject: May Day 2001

Date: Fri, 12 Apr 2002 17:23:16 +0100

Dear Sir/Madam

You will recall that you contacted us following
the demonstration in London
on 1st May last year.

Liberty has been working with a group of
solicitors to mount a legal
challenge to the police tactic of corralling
demonstrators. A number of
applications were submitted for legal aid to take
proceedings against the
police for unlawful imprisonment and under the
Human Rights Act 1998 for
breach of article 5 of the European Convention on
Human Rights. The Legal
Services Commission agreed that the legal issues
raised were sufficiently
important for them to grant legal aid, but
decided to grant legal aid only
to two prospective claimants who would act as a
test case. The group of
solicitors has nominated two prospective
claimants and these two claimants
have now been granted legal aid.

The problem with this is that there is a one-year
deadline for claims under
the Human Rights Act, although the courts do have
a discretion to allow
claims out of time. This means that, even if the
two claimants who have
been granted legal aid are successful, other
prospective claimants may have
difficulty bringing a claim.

To try and get round this, we have decided to
prepare a list of other
potential claimants. At the same time as
proceedings are issued on behalf
of the two claimants that have been granted legal
aid, we will ask the
police to agree that they won't object if any of
the people named in the
list issue proceedings out of time. If the police
won't agree this we will
ask the court to give appropriate directions.

Do you want to be included on the list? Being on
the list won't commit you
to taking proceedings, nor will not being on it
prevent you from taking
them, although you may have difficulty pursuing a
claim under the Human
Rights Act. It shouldn't involve you in any risk
of having to pay the
police's costs. (If that position changes we
will let you know.) We will
also try to avoid actually giving the list to the
police, although we can't
guarantee that we won't have to. It is therefore
possible that the police
will get to know that you are a possible claimant
against them.

If you would like to be included on the list,
please can you get back to me
by Tuesday 23rd April. You can either write to
me or e-mail my assistant
Nensi Saric,  nensis@liberty-human-rights.org.uk.
In addition to giving your
full name, can you give your date of birth and
the period of time that you
were detained by the police. Please don't reply
to me if you have already
indicated your interest in being included on the
list to another solicitor.

Whether you wish to be included on the list or
not, can you let me know
whether you are happy for us to disclose the
e-mail that you sent to us to
the solicitors' firm Christian Fisher. Christian
Fisher is the firm that
will be acting for the two claimants that are
bringing the test case and
they have asked us to provide as much information
as possible about people
who were at the May Day demonstration so that
they can assess who might be
good witnesses.

Finally, Christian Fisher are keen to get hold of
any photographs or video
footage that people may have or any other
relevant documentary evidence.
Please let me know if you have anything which you
think might assist the
case. If so, are you happy for us to give your
details to Christian Fisher
so that they can contact you directly about it?

I look forward to hearing from you.

James Welch,
Legal Director,
Liberty,
21 Tabard Street,
London SE1 4LA.