ten people were arrested in the actions yesterday at parliament - they were all held for nearly 24 hours, but were all released after court appearances

on wednesday afternoon, democracy village activists stormed parliament. most were caught entering the grounds, but one man, 'peaceful warrior', managed to avoid the armed police and the dogs, and scrambled up the scaffolding at the side of big ben and dropped 'troops home' and 'peace' banners. he managed to stay up there for around five hours.

meanwhile, others used a huge 'soldiers home now' banner to blockade the front gates, and staged a sit-down when police tried to move them away. after a couple of hours, several vans of police reinforcements arrived, and nine arrests were made, as well as the big ben protestor.

they were held overnight at charing cross police station, but then 'peaceful warrior' was released without charge, while the other nine were charged with 'obstruction'.

in court today, they mostly refused to enter pleas, claiming that the facts of the case were true, but that they didn't regards what they'd done was a crime. the judge appeared to interpret this as a 'guilty' plea and fined them each £100, but then told them that as they'd spent the night in the cells, this was equivqlent to payment, and so they were all free to go.

only one of them, a foreign national, had their dna taken, and none were given any paperwork, so they are unclear whether they now have a criminal record or not.

this is all the information i was given by one of the arrestees, so if anyone has more or different, then please feel free to make an addition or contact me to make a correction.

original report at http://london.indymedia.org.uk/articles/4874

there have been no 'unauthorised protest' socpa legislation threats or charges. it is believed the camp is authorised by a blanket 'peace strike' authorisation based on a notification by maria gallestegui (who was one of those arrested yesterday)

the democracy village has to be the most exciting protest and occupation seen in central london for some time, and they are calling for more people to come and join them and promote the very publicly popular message of ending british troop involvement in afghanistan.

they hold consensus decision-making meetings every day to plan actions and to organise the camp. they need help with technical communications, some equipment including leisure batteries, and food or other donations are always welcome if you can't support the camp with physical presence.

they are currently under threat of eviction by the gla who 'manage and maintain the land', and while there is a risk of tens of thousands of pounds costs, there may be some grounds for a legal challenge.