Arrest at Civil Disobedience Action in London today 02/04/06

Frances Laing | 02.04.2006 19:10 | Anti-militarism | Repression | London

According to the London Metropolitan police one man was arrested at the Voices Civil Disobedience against the violence in Iraq today.

The man's identity was not revealed. He is not currently being held (but police say he will be charged under the Serious Crime and Disorder act).

According to the police. 200 people took part in the event - but left the area around 4.p.m.

Frances Laing

Additions

more information?

02.04.2006 20:10

Any idea when this arrest happened? I was at the demonstration and the procession afterwards and they cautioned one person at the demo but that was it at the time.

Phoebe
mail e-mail: foibey@gmail.com

Arrest at Civil Disobedience Action in London today 02/04/06

02.04.2006 21:35

So who was this?

As someone who was present at this demonstration I would say there were at least 250 people present. "The man's identity was not revealed. He is not currently being held (but police say he will be charged under the Serious Crime and Disorder act). (???)" Why the secrecy? Nothing was mentioned at the demonstration about this. Was it the person who was demonstrating about the entire Neo Labour conspiracy with the war - or was it
Brian Haw? I congratulate Brian Haw for drawing attention to the masses on the demonstration by Catholics remembering the death of the previous Pope. I hope the Christian Catholics demonstrating about the Pope were also demonstrating about the the war.

After the main demonstration by the organisers, there was a procession (along Whitehall) led by the Catholic Workers. It will be interesting to see any reports from this demonstration.

Brian B

arrestee?

02.04.2006 22:48

one man was threatened with arrest - he had been wandering around the perimeter of the demonstration with a banner "solidarity in the uk - new label launched". because he was shouting a lot, he was given a ten minute warning of imminent arrest undr section 132, but he left immediately.

i was at this demo all afternoon, and also talked to many people and i think the only likely explanation for this report is as follows:

the man dressed as charlie chaplin was given a form of street arrest that has come into vogue amongst police repressors recently. his details were taken, he was officially cautioned, and he was told that he was being "reported" to the crown prosecution service. they have the option to send him a summons at a later date. thus, he was effectively arrested without having to be processed at the police station. this is probably what has been registered as an arrest.

under new police powers, they would also have the option to set various conditions on his behaviour, curfews, restrictions of movement and so on, all without judicial review.

we are hurtling towards a police state before the imminent suggested aggression against iran.

rikki

who was arrested?

02.04.2006 23:31

I believe it was Charlie Chaplin, for saying...nothing.
Though, I may be wrong.

Sas

Arrest?

03.04.2006 06:32

I was at the demo and the march afterwards. The only person that I am aware of being reported for an offence was 'Charlie Chaplin'. I did not see what it was that prompted the Police to single this individual out and yet not take action against the 300 other people at the demo.

It was rather comical to see the Police actually walking AWAY from Brian as he tried to report a crime to them! A senior officer came up and told Brian the officer was "busy", which is strange comment given that all the officer was busy doing was standing on the corner of the square watching us.

Dave

Comments

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the thought police

03.04.2006 13:52

from what i saw and from chatting to a few people yesterday, including the legal observer present when charlie chaplin was cautioned, i got the idea that the police picked (on) him because he's been there a few times, had been pestered by the police before and also maybe because they could - he was alone and easily recognisable.

an eyewitness of the previous arrest said that he was nicked for having a thought blurb saying "no comment"...
it should also be pointed out that all the placards charlie's been seen with have hardly political slogans - that hence should not be considered under the SOCPA?

in a few hours I hope to have all the pics from this action (including the cautioning of cc) uploaded here.

it's unbelievable how much you can "break the law" without saying a word...

lilith

Hurtling towards a Police State?

03.04.2006 15:43

I thought we had arrived some time ago. Let me see, unlawful custody deaths, imprisonment without trial, shoot to kill death squads, police permission to protest peacefully, trumped up charges, et al.

Meagain.

This event was not organised by Voices.

03.04.2006 17:42

The police were very hands off at the event, and only used the SOCPA powers twice - as explained above. No one was arrested and taken from the location.

Here's a link to photos and short writeup-

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/04/337485.html

IMPORTANT NOTE: The event was not organised by Voices, but it was endorsed by them. Because Voices put out a lot of info about the event, this distinction wasn't always clear to the public. How was the event organised? It was collectively organised by a group of individuals. The original idea came out during a meeting of the London Antiwar Action Forum (again, not the organisers, but the meeting where the idea came out of). Here's some info about how to get involved with the London Antiwar Action Forum.

LONDON ANTI-WAR ACTION FORUM NEXT SATURDAY (8 APRIL)

Initiated jointly by the Corporate Pirates, Iraq Occupation Focus, Justice Not Vengeance, Peace Not War, Rhythms of Resistance and Voices in the Wilderness UK.

When: 2-5pm, Saturday 8 April.
Where: London Action Resource Centre, 62 Fieldgate Street, Whitechapel, London E1 1ES (nearest tube Aldgate East). See www.londonarc.org.

Outraged by the ongoing occupation of Iraq? Angry about the deployment of thousands more UK troops to Afghanistan? Want to take action? Maybe you have an idea for a creative protest against the routeing of CIA torture flights through the UK or know a corporate war profiteer that needs a spotlight thrown on it.

Then the London Anti-war Action Forum could be the place for you!

THE LONDON ANTI-WAR ACTION FORUM IS:

- a monthly open space for people who want to organise (and take part in) actions related to the so-called "war on terror" (eg. the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, Guantanamo, Islamophobia etc...)

- a place for *your* ideas and energies

IT ISN'T:

- a place for in-depth discussion of the latest news from Iraq, Guantanamo etc... Information and analysis are crucial to all our work but the Forum's focus will be action.

- an attempt to replicate the important work that's already being done (newsletters, conferences, weekly street stalls etc...) but will instead focus on the stuff that's *not* happening.

- another group. Rather, it's a space where groups and individuals can come together to talk about and plan actions (forming ad hoc coalitions where appropriate). In particular the Forum will have no fixed "membership" or agreed "platform" and no actions will be organised
under the name of the "Anti-war Action Forum".

For more information contact 0845 458 2564, e-mail

voices@voicesuk.org

Jesse