on Wednesday 4th June I was viciously assaulted by 2 large men dressed
in
'securigard' uniforms in the Clapham High St. branch of Sainsbury's. I
am an
8 stone, 5'2@ woman.
> They accused me of attempting to shoplift some tea and 'Jaffa cakes'
after
my debit card didn't go through the till, and beat me up in the
supermarket.
I was forcibly dragged into a small storeroom at the back of the shop,where
the 2 men continued to beat me up in the presence of a store manager and
a
female member of staff.
> I called for help, and for someone to call the police, but when the
police
arrived they handcuffed me with my hands behind my back and took me in
the
back of a police van to the notorious Kennington Police Station.
> After being held in a police cell I was taken in a police van by 'social
workers' employed by Lambeth Council to the LEO Unit of Lambeth Hospital
on
Landor Road, which does not have an A&E dept..
> I have been detained against my will in the Hospital apparently under
Section 3 of the Mental Health Act 1983.
> The solicitor representing me, Carolyn Taylor of Taylor Nicholl, in
appealing this detention has had difficulty in accessing documents
relating
to my case.
> I have no criminal convictions for shoplifting, or for anything else,
but
have been active in The Stop the War Coalition, the Anti-Nazi League and
am
a member of the Socialist Workers Party.
> I am an artist on the payroll of the London Institute as a lecturer,
and
have had numerous exhibitions of my work with various visual collectives,
including at the ICA and at the Scala in London.
> I've been involved in making several digital-video films including, 'A
Week in Palestine', 'Argentina in Revolt', and 'Genova Libera' with
Globalise Resistance and massproduced.
> Thes video-films have been screened at Human Rights festivals
internationally, at Trades Union conferences, and on television in
France
and Germany.
> Whilst detained in the Lambeth Hospital, part of the South London and
Maudsley NHS Trust, I have been prevented from attending meetings of the
SWP
and of Southwark MIND. I have been unable to take up paid employment
which
has been offered to me, have had my mobile phone bill sold off to a debt
collection agency, and have to negotiate to be allowed into the walled
hospital gardem.
> Despite being in a state of shock and suffering cuts and bruises after
being assaulted, the only medication I have been prescribed is an
anti-psychotic drug.
> In the months running up to the very distressing events of 4th June, I
was
being sexually and racially harrassed at my flat and have been 'indecently
assaulted' in public places on numerous occasions; once in Westminster
on
1st May after attending a protes at Channel 4 buildings about their
refusal
to screen the documentary, "Injustice" and on another occasion in
Brockwell
Park, Brixton at the cannabis festival.
> I believe my ordeal is partly due to the activities of the BNP in the
area, who have been attempting to build support for their neo-nazi
ideology,
and have been targetting political activists and civil rights
campaigners
through web sites etc.
> I believe I am also the victim of an attempt by the Hospital Trust to
cover up a previous incident when I was indecently assaulted on the LEO
Unit
in September 2001 (when I was sectioned while in the process of editing
'Genova Libera ) which Streatham Police were attempting to investigate,
after being called in by the 'Team Leader' on the ward.
> Despite haveing a letter from the Data Protection Office granting me
access to my medical records in December 2001, I have as yet been unable
to
see records kept on me by a consultant at the hospital, despite his
ahving
40 days to comply with the DP Act.
> Whilst on the LEO Unit, I have been disturbed to hear the accounts of
how
other 'patients' have been brought into hospital by police and social
workers who have obviously been abusing their powers.
> Last night a muslim woman of Iraqui origin told me how she had been
racially assaulted by a man in a black balaclava who threw her 3 yr old
son
into the Thames, and how Westminster police had apparently removed all
her
clothes including her veil, and kept her house keys, purse address book
etc.
> The LEO Unit is part of a hospital, not a prison, and I am a peace
activist, not a violent criminal or a terrorist.
> My only 'illness' is manic-depression which affects many creative
people
and which I am well able to manage. I am not any danger to myself or the
community , though I must admit I was losing sleep and crying during the
full onslaught of the war on Iraq.
> Despite repeatedly reporting the harrassment I was suffering to my
landlords, Metropolitan Housing Trust, I have not been offered any
support
or re-housing and paid out myself to change locks etc (although my flat
was
still broken into)
> I would add that in a difficult and stessful working environment the
majority of the nursing and support staff are very caring and hard-
working
and I can't believe that many are paid as little as 14,000 before tax.
>
> Incidentally while 'Ladies Day at Royal Ascot saw aristocrats parading
in
million pound shoes that even Hollywood stars had decloned to wear to
this
years Oscars on grounds of good taste, I was prevented from going into
town
to by some summer sandals as there weren't enough nurse available to
accompany me. I had to negotiate with doctors for most of last week to
be
granted leave to attend a close friends degree show at Camberwell Art
College on Saturday.
> I am hoping that people in South London will show solidarity with any
health workers taking industrial action at this time for improved pay
and
conditions, and in protest at the dire abuse of human rights being
perpetrated in the name of the Mental Health Act.
> I also. sincerely hope people will join me in showing their opposition
to
the politics of hate perpetrated by the BNP and their ilk and only
encouraged by the dessimation of public services by Tony Blair and New
Labour, by supporting the Anti-Nazi League in forming a United Front
against
the facists.
> Before being beaten up and detained against my will in hospital, I was
in
addition to teaching and video editin in the process of making funding
applications for local community arts projects which I plan to continue
with
when at liberty to do so,
> Yours sincerly,
> Sally Bowen
> c/o LEO Unit,
> Lambveth Hospital
> 108 Landor Road,
> London SW9
>