before the police launched their illegal night-time raid back in may last year, brian's anti-war display stretched across most of the front of the square in an artistic ramshackle celebration of peace and freedom.

last week, police imposed their third new set of 'conditions' on brian's protest site - previous conditions have been found unlawful in court. these new ones are simpler than before, with no nonsensical talk of objects containing other objects, but they still don't make much sense. to me they still sound like a state intent on stopping legitimate protest about a subject that the majority of the british public agree on, and they are an attempt to hide from public scrutiny the war crimes of many many members of parliament.

here are the new conditions (set by detective superintendent peter newman on the 3rd october):

"1 the area of the site associated with your demonstration will not exceed 3 metres in width, 3 metres in height and 1 metre in depth. all articles associated with the demonstration must at all times be contained within these dimensions. this size condition only applies to the articles associated with your demonstration and not the persons participating in it, or to any banner or placard held carried or held aloft by those other persons.

2 if the numbers taking part in your demonstration are to exceed 20 in total, including yourself, you must where reasonably practicable, give 6 clear days' notice of this fact to the operations officer at charing cross police station. where it is not reasonably practicable to give 6 clear days' notice, then give notice as soon as it is, and in any event not less than 24 hours before numbers are to increase above 20. if requested by a police officer in uniform, you must confirm whether persons present are part of your demonstration or not.

i am imposing conditions 1 and 2 as i reasonably believe that they are necessary to: prevent disruption to the life of the community (sect 134(3)(e)); prevent a security risk in the designated area (sect 134(3)(f)); and prevent a risk to the safety of members of the public (including any taking part in your demonstration) (sect 134(3)(g))"


all last week, there were burmese activists opposite parliament. police conditions were lax, and allowed 500 protestors. one of brian's court challenges is about the arbitrariness and secrecy of the decision-making process. it is not proscribed by law, and is open to political interference and abuse. suddenly, with yet another court challenge facing them, charing cross police have issued new conditions on the burma camp, the same as brian's. this rearguard action may be too late to prevent a court taking the view that the whole matter of conditions is not only open to abuse, but has clearly been abused.

brian has also launched a further challenge to get his original display back, which the courts have agreed was effectively stolen by a gang of known thieves working for commissioner blair last year. not only did this gang of 'yellow-jackets' thieve from brian, but also, by using public money to fund an illegal act, they stole from londoners. commissioner blair told the police authority the next day that the raid had cost £7,500. that was soon uncovered as a lie, and he admitted it was actually £28,000. but recently, freedom of information act requests have uncovered that this too was untrue. the actual cost was a staggering £111,000. and remember that was public money used for an illegal raid.

in that raid, the police stole many things, and it seems one item was brian's measuring tape. so until they give it back, it looks like he'll just have to guess this three metres rubbish, and judging from today's wondrous display across ken livinstone's fences, i guess his judgment isn't quite as good as it was when he once was a carpenter.

but it looks great.

and i hope it shames the lying gordon brown and all those other lying politicians when they return to parliament today.




ps there's another chance to see the hour-long socpa movie this week
it's being shown on thursday night at rampart's at 8pm as part of an evening of protest/civil rights films
rampart is at 15 rampart street, london E1 2LA and entry is free/by donation