Around 35 media activists and supporters of Indymedia UK, a network of collectives offering news and opinions throughout the country, today handed in a petition to protect freedom of expression and call for an end to new anti-terrorism measures undermining democracy.

The event was peaceful and police were sympathetic but no further information was provided on the the death threats received by PM Blair. Indymedia and CACC were assured that the petition could be handed in directly next week but the kind offer was declined.

The petition was launched in full collaboration with CACC and the action was taken in solidarity with European Indymedias, following raids on social centres holding Indymedia material in Italy after police brutality during the G8 Genoa protests.  Indymedia received cross support from politicians,  unionists, lawyers in UK and others alike.

Indymedia's petition concerned raids on Indymedia Italy confiscating material playing a pivotal role in exposing horrific incidents such as an eye-witness account reported by Italian daily newspaper La Republica: The police "lined them [protesters] up and banged their heads against the walls. They urinated on one person. They beat people if they didn’t sing Facetta Nera (a fascist hymn). One girl was vomiting blood but the chief of the squad just looked on. They threatened to rape the girls with batons."

Such acts are unacceptable in any democratic and law abiding nation that seek to safeguard basic human rights. Reporting such events is essential. All media groups should be protected from being targeted or censored in democratic countries in Europe just as the free world demands of non-democratic nations.

CACC's also delivered a petition opposing 'anti-terrorism' laws for which it collected thousands of signatures. This opposed the Terrorism Act 2000 and successor, the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001.  Both laws threaten basic civil liberties that have been taken for granted.

The action also coincided with a separate petition because of the fact that the European Union recently issued a new list of banned organisations including the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). This measure extends  the UK proscription order passed in March 2001 and adopts the US method of seizing financial assets of suspected terrorist organisations. Now Turkey is lobbying the EU to ban around 450 European based NGOs and bodies allegedly supporting terrorism.

Visit www.cacc.org.uk for more information.