Snatch arrests in London's Stop the War demo
imcuk eyewitness | 01.11.2002 01:38
Tonight's Stop the War demo in London saw widespread use of snatch arrests of demonstrators by police. This follows two weeks of police harrasment of anti-war activists that had been followed and had their pictures taken by police surveillance units when attending meetings and other events.First legal estimates talk of about 14 people having been arrsted tonight by police snatch squads.
This is an account of the arrest of two Wombles activists in tonight's demo:
I witnessed how two people got arested for no other reason than being anti-war activists. They were standing in Whitehall when a police snatch squad turned up and took them away. These two people were not doing anything 'threatening' or 'illegal', they were just standing in the pavement away from the main demonstration. I've overheard the activists asking why were they being arrested, and police answering because they had beeen "rude" and had used "abusive language".
This arrest had definitely nothing to do with a "public order" situation, rather it seems it was part of a deliberate police tactic of targeting "known" activists and marked anti war demosntrators.
We do not know the current situation of these two people, or whether they have been charged of any offence, what we know though is that tonight's images of police snatch squads have more resemblance to a dictatorship than to what one should expect from the supposed right to protest in a "civilised democracy".
I witnessed how two people got arested for no other reason than being anti-war activists. They were standing in Whitehall when a police snatch squad turned up and took them away. These two people were not doing anything 'threatening' or 'illegal', they were just standing in the pavement away from the main demonstration. I've overheard the activists asking why were they being arrested, and police answering because they had beeen "rude" and had used "abusive language".
This arrest had definitely nothing to do with a "public order" situation, rather it seems it was part of a deliberate police tactic of targeting "known" activists and marked anti war demosntrators.
We do not know the current situation of these two people, or whether they have been charged of any offence, what we know though is that tonight's images of police snatch squads have more resemblance to a dictatorship than to what one should expect from the supposed right to protest in a "civilised democracy".
imcuk eyewitness
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