I've been to a few Parliament Square gatherings. The first time I went there were a huge number of police, they handed out leaflets telling us we were protesting illegally then made several arrests. Compare that to the last couple I have attended and it's as if SOCPA never existed. Does this mean the police have decided that we're not seriously organised criminals after all? I hope so, though somehow doubt it. It actually feels like a scene in a film where someone says, "It's all too quiet" just before a huge hairy monster jumps out and devours them.

Anyway, best of luck to Brian...it will certainly be interesting to see how this all turns out.

i think moonsquirrel's hairy monster comment is about right.

i've been following the socpa issue for about a year, and am currently editing an independent documentary about it.

i can reasonably suggest that the police response to any socpa contravention is roughly in inverse proportion to the amount of media present, or the effect that a story by any media present might have in the national press.

the law is not applied arbritarily, but is applied unfairly and unequally.

barabara tucker, alone on mother's day, with one banner, but with no press, was roughly man-handled and charged under the section 132 law. hundreds of people, clearly demonstrating on other days have been ignored.

today, when the samba band started playing, the two policemen, who were watching from a discreet distance, talked briefly into their radios and then hot-footed it in the opposite direction across westminster bridge.

when a mass gathering joined brian for a 'carol service' just before xmas in complete defiance of the law, police also seemed to have turned deaf and blind.

but when a small group of ten, with one blank-white banner, and no press (other than yours truly with a hand held video) walked to the square, they attracted the attention of two van-fulls of police, a forward intelligence video team, an inspector and a sergeant. and i suspect if the camera hadn't been there, there might have been arrests. (see movie at  http://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2006/05/340164.html)

basically, the government really wanted to ban demos, full stop, but they realised they couldn't do that, and so invented this fudge instead. neither the police nor activists like this law, and as long as we keep challenging it and subverting it, it will eventually get beaten.

the sunday picnickers are a good place to start for anyone interested in joining the struggle against this daft legislation. see www.peopleincommon.org

and of course any support you can give brian is also very useful. at the moment, a good suggestion is to write to newspapers, asking them to give brian space for a written piece, instead of trying to quote soundbites from him. after five years in front of parliament, surely he has as much right as blair, benn, or cameron, to write a proper article. let's see brian in print, and hear some real truths in our national press.

Pics posted on the following site.

Thanks to everyone that came!

 http://web.mac.com/virtual3/iWeb/Simon%20Johnson%20Web%20Hole/Brain%20Haw.html