Simon Moore was in court today for breaching his Olympic ASBO heres what happened...

I sat at the back of Guildford Magistrates court all day today waiting to see what was going to happen to Simon after being he was arrested for breaking the terms of his interim Olympic ASBO (set to be heared and possibly approved on Thursday). I have paraphased and shortened some of the statements...

"Can I have Mr Moore up please' said the lady with the white telephone.

Simon declined legal advice and represented himself. The prosecution laid out their case that Simon breached the terms of his ASBO by camping on a piece of land owned by Royal Holloway University in Surrey. They characterised it as 'aggrevated' as it was just a month after it was issued on the grounds of protesting for the last 4 years and also for trying to stop a temperary basketball court being built on a piece of community marshland in Leyton.

Simon pleaded guilty.

'What is your cause? asked the judge

"My cause is the right to live and to grow food on the land which is unused and without causing harm, harmoniously and sustainably. There is suficient land in this country to live freely and low impact in this country. To be honest I do not feel I have broken any of my own concept of what is right and wrong. I accept that my actions may cause alarm to the large land owners of this country and in a way it is strange that Alarm has been criminalised.

The judge set Simon free with a £50 fine or one night served. She seemed genuinely perplexed as to what this has to do with the Olympics.

So what is to be made of all this ? Well considering that Simon has repeatedly stated that he has no specific problem with the Olympics it seems that the Prohibition on camping on land has the aim of givimg the police the power to stop Simon doing just about anything that they don't like at any given time. Simon intends to continue his struggle for the right to use disused land and this is not the end of this story by a long shot. The hearing about the interim ASBO being granted as a full ASBO is on Thursday.

The aim seems to be to create non political zones around certain events like the Olympics and to criminalise protest generally. Even though claiming that the Olympics is 'A-political' in the era of globalisation is laughable. As crises increase and social movements grow expect more of Such ASBO's.

More updates from the Windsor Eco-Village Diggers coming soon....