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News and reports on actions and repression related to the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 and the Parliamentary 'exclusion zone' in central London.

Full article | 8 comments

Democracy Village

08-07-2010 13:02

The appeal by Democracy Village after last week's High Court ruling will be heard at 10.30am this Friday (9th July) at the appeals court. In the meantime the camp is still going on strong, having started 'Operation Rolling Thunder', more – an ongoing programme of non-violent direct action. The village is calling out for people to come down and help on multiple fronts: to come and do actions, to help with the site, keep it tidy and maintain the gardens. There is a particular call-out for those with direct action skills and experience.

Previous newswire postings: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Photos: 1 2

Full article | 1 addition | 10 comments

Sean Kirtley Released From Prison After Appeal Victory!

22-09-2009 10:33

The Final Nail In The SOCPA Coffin?



In May 2008, following an 18-week trial costing over £4.5 million, the operator of a website criticising animal testing, Sean Kirtley, was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for allegedly organising legal protests. He was found guilty under Section 145 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) for "interfering with the contractual relationships of a laboratory" by campaigning against Sequani Limited and its business associates. He was released this month after his appeal was successful.

Solidarity direct action included a Carnival Against Vivisection in September against Sequani and anonymous ALF activists painting a city centre, walls and bridges, liberating hundreds of chickens, redecorating a fur shop, vandalising a hunter's car and sabotaging vending machines (1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5).

Newswire: A letter from Sean Kirtley to Gagged! | "Free Sean" | GSK and Mars vending machines sabotaged | Sean Kirtley's Appeal Launched | ALF Chickin' Nickin' For Sean | Law-lord ruling to free Sean Kirtley? NETCU on the run | Felix Says "Free Sean Kirtley" | Sollidarity actions for Sean Kirtley | Serious Implications for Freedom of Speech as Activist Jailed for 4.5 years | NETCU and Judge Ross crucify civil liberties | Support Freedom of Speech - Support Sean! | Sequani Trial Update - One Remanded - Three not guilty so far... | Jury out to decide the fate of the Sequani Six (longest AR trial in history) | How to be a seriously organised animal rights criminal - Section 145 SOCPA. | The Sequani Six say thanks for the support

Previous feature: Police repression at Sequani demo | World Day for Animals in Laboratories March | Anti-vivisection campaigners convicted of blackmail | Solidarity For Political Prisoner Sean Kirtley | Carnival Against Vivisection | Sequani Besieged by Surprise Action

Links: Free Sean Kirtley | Sequani 6 | Stop Sequani Animal Testing | NETCU Watch

Indymedia UK topic pages: Stop Sequani Animal Testing | SOCPA

Full article | 6 comments

Parliamentary scrutiny of political policing

24-03-2009 11:46

Police display a warning before attacking protesters (Photo: Tash [alan lodge])

With only ten days to go before the massive protests against the G20 summit taking place in London, the Parliament's Joint Select Committee on Human Rights accused British police of being heavy-handed, misusing counter-terrorism laws and anti-social behavior legislation when dealing with demonstrators.

"The right to protest is a fundamental democratic right and one that the state and police have a duty to protect and facilitate," said Andrew Dismore, Labour MP for Hendon and chair of the committee.

After a year of inquiry, the seventy-page report raised serious concerns about the police forces ability to distinguish appropriate use of the powers they are given. The committee complained that police have been routinely using "legal powers not designed to deal with protests such as anti-social behaviour legislation and the Protection from Harassment Act 1997."

The report was particularly damning regarding the police's abuse of stop-and-search powers to intimidate, unjustifiable seizures of personal property, and improper detention and containment of protesters. The committee's chairman said: "The state must not impose restrictions unless it is necessary, and proportionate, to do so. That is a high threshold. The presumption is in favour of protest without state interference."

Related Indymedia Posts: Police 'turn themselves in' over abuse of power claims | Report into police tactics at Kingsnorth released | Video of police tactics at Kingsnorth | Summer of rage? It's a figment of febrile imaginations | Senior police officer warns of “summer of rage” | Protest against police state | Britain 2009 (are we in a police state?) | Climate Camp Cops feel the heat | Over Policing | Police maintaining special database | Whole TV series on this issue

Full article | 3 additions | 11 comments

Solidarity For Political Prisoner Sean Kirtley

10-09-2008 11:52

On Saturday 6th September two hundred activists made it to Ledbury, Herefordshire, for the Carnival Against Vivisection in solidarity with political prisoner Sean Kirtley. The day of action was called by various groups in resistance to the imprisoning of peaceful campaigners under SOCPA legislation, and as a stand for the animals suffering inside vivisection laboratories.

Protesters met on the grass verge, where the police held them allowing a maximum of 15 at a time to demonstrate outside Sequani labs. Shortly after campaigners made a spontaneous break for the labs, with police responding by blocking the bridge to push back the crowd, creating minor scuffles. Multiple attempts were also made to access the labs using various pre-planned routes, meeting police each time, some of which had dogs. Protesters then regrouped at the grass verge to march the original route around town.

Pictures: 1 | 2 | Videos

Newswire: Sequani demo | Carnival Against Vivisection - Arrest Witnesses Appeal | Carnival Against Vivisection - some thoughts | Carnival Against Vivisection - Latest

Previous features: Carnival Against Vivisection | Sequani Besieged by Surprise Action

Related links: Free Sean Kirtley | Stop Sequani Animal Testing | Antispeciesist Action | Animal Liberation Front | Bite Back | NETCU Watch | FIT watch | Western Animal Rights Network | Indymedia UK Stop Sequani topic page

Full article | 1 addition | 6 comments

SOCPA Anti-demo Laws Should be Repealed, Not Extended

14-01-2008 15:52

One of Gordon Brown's first announcements when he became prime minister, was that the state would 'look again' at the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) clauses which affect the right to protest within a kilometer of the Houses of Parliament. Since then, a consultation has been launched by the Home Office, and the closing date for responses is 17/01/08.

Anti-SOCPA campaigners who have studied the proposal are concerned that, rather than leading to a repeal of the relevant clauses of the act, the consultation could lead to an extension of the powers, meaning that any demonstration anywhere in the country would be required to seek police authorisation in advance.

On Saturday, January 12th, in response to a callout from campaigners, demonstrations took place around the UK.

Milton Keynes and Cambridge saw demonstrations in support of the right to protest. In Liverpool civil liberties protesters marched through the town centre and held a demonstration outside the town hall. Welsh activists handed out copies of the consultation paper and held a series of mini protests with locals in Aberystwyth. The monthly peace camp at Aldermaston staged a solidarity 'Freedom of Assembly' demo outside the Atomic Weapons Establishment.

A demonstration in Oxford against a proposed new shopping centre took place in solidarity with the other anti-SOCPA actions as locals took impromptu direct action to prevent the fencing off of the square. In London, where protest is banned within a kilometre of parliament, a procession demonstrated outside several key sites with the SOCPA zone, including the Home Office, New Scotland Yard and MI5. People were arrested for lying down in the road outside Downing Street and at Parliament Square activists were violently removed from the sit in and Brian Haw was assaulted and arrested.

Links:

SOCPA topic | Liverpool: Photos | London: Video 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | London Photos 1 | 2 | Cambridge: Montage | JNV model answers for consultation

Other Sites

Repeal SOCPA | socpa - the movie

Full article | 7 comments

Preserving disorder: freedom to protest and the future of SOCPA

16-11-2007 20:14

The Home Office has recently published a consultation paper which hints at what was really meant by Gordon Brown's promise to look again at the law which restricts demonstrations near parliament, far from repealing this legislation the consultation indicates that the government wants to extend the restrictions on demonstrations to cover the whole country.

The current law on demonstrations around parliament bans spontaneous protests, requiring demonstrators to seek advance police permission, which allows the police to impose arbitrary limits on numbers and effectively act as political censors. See a timeline of its effects.

A public meeting challenging the new proposal will be held at the London School of Economics on the 2nd December.

Links: SOCPA the movie | ASBOwatch | Repeal SOCPA | State of Emergency | schNEWS article | the Consultation Document | SOCPA topic page

Full article

Confrontation with authorities in Parliament Square

17-10-2007 20:26

On 8th October, the day that the British Parliament resumed after its Summer recess, a thousands of anti-war protesters marched into Parliament Square. They were joined by people who demanded the basic freedom to be able to protest peacefully without prior police permission or conditions.

In the past demonstrators in London have been arrested, charged and fined or imprisoned simply for reading out a list of names or for carrying an innocuous banner, under the draconian SOCPA legislation brought in by Prime Minister Blair's government and carried on by his successor Brown. Since a raid on protesters' legitimate encampment in the Square by Mayor Livingstone's Greater London Authority (GLA) team on 17th August, a surrounding metal barrier has been erected which severely inhibits the ability to demonstrate there.

Timeline: [ 14.55 | 15.40 | 16.15 | 16.30 | 17.15 ]
Video: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]
Pictures: [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ]
Texts: [ Monopoly on Protest: Open Letter to CND and the Stop the War Coalition | What's wrong with Stop the War Campaign? | SOCPA - STWC 'ban' was bollocks ]

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Anti-war greeting for Tweedle Brown

27-06-2007 12:12

End Brown's Wars

Gordon Brown is facing an anti-war welcome during his first week in power, with little sign that he will break with Blair's disastrous foreign policy. A War Is Still the Issue camp was set up in Parliament Square from Saturday 23rd [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | Video ] (the fact that it was allowed may be a sign that SOCPA will be repealed? ... well, in fact probably not!). There was a demonstration outside Brown's Labour leadership coronation in Manchester on Saturday [ 1 | 2 | 3 ] and a Military Families Against War demonstration took place on his first day as Prime Minister on Wednesday [ Pics ] Later in the evening, a small group of activists braved the rain outside Blair's new Connaught Square home and made neighbours aware of their new resident [ Pics ].

Links: War is Still the issue | Voices in the Wilderness | Justice Not Vengeance | Stop the War Coalition | Military Families Against the War

Full article | 3 additions | 1 comment

Parliament Square Peace Campers in Court

29-05-2007 14:25

tent city

At least 12 activists have now been charged under SOCPA in connection with the No More Fallujahs Peace Camp and Naming the Dead actions in Parliament Square and Whitehall on 29-30 October 2006. Reports from the actions here.

In a planned act of civil disobedience against the occupation of Iraq, campaigners set up an unauthorised camp in Parliament Square for 24 hours last October. In all, over 100 people took part in workshops and discussions and held 'Naming the Dead' remembrance ceremonies in Parliament Square and Whitehall during the action.

Most of the defendants have been in court over the past two weeks, with the judgements to date illustrating the arbitrary nature of British "justice".

Read on...

Full article | 1 addition | 5 comments

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA)

14-05-2007 23:00

The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) is a major piece of legislation, which established the Serious Organised Crime Agency, an FBI-like agency to tackle "serious organised crime", as it says on the box.

People-trafficking, drug wholesaling, violent armed robbery, torture, extortion and murder, is the kind of thing that might spring to mind. The bill, however, was used as an opportunity to deal with issues that might not be considered so serious. It introduced us to ASBO's, for example; outlawed animal activists' "interference with contractual arrangements" and, most pertinently, the right to protest in designated areas without prior permission.

Below is a comprehensive 'diary', put together by IMC UK activists, of events related to SOCPA since it came into force on 1 August, 2005.

XML UK SOCPA Feature Archive

Text PCC Sue Mountstevens' husband is Stephen Robertson, Director of Business West
12-09-2015 19:57

Text Unfair Mario
24-03-2014 14:13 | 1 comment

Text Cleveland police Falsified Forensics evidence
19-01-2014 22:40 | 2 comments

Image Hunger Strike in Parliament Square - day 25
20-01-2013 00:32 | 3 comments

Image Barbara Tucker now on hunger strike: started Thursday 27th
31-12-2012 16:36 | 2 comments

Image Yuletide in Parliament Square – War and Peace
29-12-2012 06:29

Image Winter in Parliament Square
12-12-2012 12:45

Text "Worldwide Echo in support of the Zapatistas" On The Day Of Indigenous Resistance
16-10-2012 05:39

Image parl sq peace plinth in art exhibition
13-10-2012 14:16 | 3 comments

Image Autumn in Parliament Square – Barbara Tucker arrest number 46
02-10-2012 13:15

Image child protection conference skegness
06-09-2012 17:58 | 1 comment

Image The umbrellas of Parliament Square - musical chairs and malicious prosecution
04-08-2012 16:39 | 1 comment

Image I wrote to my MP regarding the harrrassment of Barbara Tucker
13-07-2012 20:02 | 3 comments

Text roger hayes jailed unlawfully manchester courts
06-07-2012 13:23 | 9 comments

Text Faslane Peace Camp and Trident Ploughshares Tresspass at Faslane Naval Base
02-07-2012 15:00

Image Gone but not forgotten - one year since Brian Haw's death
18-06-2012 14:14 | 4 comments

Image Faslane Peace Campers Trespass at Coulport Nuclear Weapons Depot
15-06-2012 19:53 | 5 comments

Text SOCPA zone repealed?
05-04-2012 12:06 | 3 comments

Image Barbara Tucker Arrest 45: The Paranoid State.
04-04-2012 17:47 | 8 comments

Image Spring in Parliament Square
21-03-2012 16:41

Text High Court case on new restrictions on protest around Parliament
05-03-2012 23:34 | 2 comments

Text Squatting Demo Shut Down by Police
01-11-2011 06:10 | 4 comments

Text Remember remember the 5th of November-huge protest outside parliament
21-09-2011 17:05 | 4 comments

Text Evictions from Parliament Square?
05-09-2011 16:46

Text parliament banner - SOCPA section 128 convictions
01-08-2011 23:55

Audio Bristol builder Simon Lewis savaged by police dogs at Easter riots
25-06-2011 11:55 | 1 comment

Image Democracy Live? It looks pretty dead to me...
14-11-2010 17:10

Image Letter from Parliament Square
30-10-2010 18:15 | 1 comment

Text Criminalisation of Protest and Dissent in Britain
24-10-2010 20:22

Text Afghanistan Anniversary Vigil
04-10-2010 10:15

Text Naming The Dead: End The War in Afghanistan
18-09-2010 09:55

Text £7m Big Mac 'was from surveilance'
29-07-2010 14:04

Text What would you change in the Police?
26-07-2010 02:03 | 1 addition | 2 comments

Image Democracy Village Eviction, London - Pictures
23-07-2010 15:45

Image Democracy Village eviction night, Parliament Square - pics
20-07-2010 23:33 | 1 comment

Text 04:15 update: eviction nearly over
20-07-2010 03:25

Text 03:25 update - democracy village eviction
20-07-2010 02:31

Text parl square eviction - call-outs for actions
20-07-2010 01:38

Text Democracy Village being evicted now - support needed
20-07-2010 00:26 | 4 comments

Text bailiffs in parliament square : eviction confirmed
20-07-2010 00:23

Text UK.gov scraps stop'n'search terror power
08-07-2010 14:11

Image Democracy Village, London - the calm after the storm - pics
05-07-2010 19:24

Text Democracy Village prisoner support details (updated)
05-07-2010 10:17 | 4 comments

Text Jailing dv residents is one step too far
05-07-2010 06:35 | 6 comments

Image Correct photos of Democracy village protest Fri 2 July
04-07-2010 10:38 | 4 comments

Text democracy village: two jailed - URGENT call for support of third in court today
03-07-2010 14:32 | 13 comments

Text Democracy village, Press Release
22-06-2010 10:58 | 3 comments

Text CAD 3193 Charity Sweet says that this court is corrupt.
19-06-2010 20:16 | 10 comments

Text lets face the music and dance - call off the dogs please - i have a child
17-06-2010 21:11 | 9 comments

Generic media High court Thursday 03 June - Parliament sq eviction hearing
02-06-2010 07:21

Image Brian Haw - 9 (nine) years in London's Parliament Square!
02-06-2010 06:48 | 2 comments

Image Parliament Square - State Opening of Parliament - Pics
29-05-2010 12:32 | 1 comment

Text Democracy Village youtube footage of Brian Hawe being arrested
26-05-2010 13:44 | 9 comments

Image Democracy Village pics (Days 19-20)
21-05-2010 20:59 | 3 comments

Image Battle for Parliament Square - Come, Resist
18-05-2010 20:24 | 2 comments

Text NHS doctors are providing info on political activists & Muslims to the police.
17-05-2010 01:13 | 2 comments

Image Guerilla Gardening in Parliament Square.
15-05-2010 17:16

Image Peace activists reclaim tree outside Downing Street
13-05-2010 15:02 | 1 comment

Text Camping outside Parliament.
10-05-2010 17:38 | 2 comments

Image Report of May Day march and rally in Edinburgh
02-05-2010 01:36

Text mayday pics
01-05-2010 23:14

Image Non Protest
30-04-2010 22:11 | 4 comments

Image Revolutionary Peoples' Party
25-04-2010 12:55 | 1 comment

Image Easter in Parliament Square
06-04-2010 22:53

Text Election Meltdown
20-03-2010 16:35 | 15 comments

Text Undercover police working at drugs projects and NHS counselling services.
13-03-2010 07:17 | 3 comments

Image The Kray twins in Parliament Square.
05-03-2010 17:25 | 1 addition | 3 comments

Text Never Mind the B*****s?
22-02-2010 18:00 | 2 comments

Text Animal Protection Party shops thrive in spite of police clampdown on SHAC stalls
22-02-2010 05:39 | 26 comments

Text Camden Animal Lab campaign residents "We are up against heavies".
19-02-2010 20:31 | 1 comment

Text Stop UKCMRI [Camden Bio Hazard] Lab meeting at Camden Town Hall update.
19-02-2010 03:23 | 1 comment

Image Stop The Stevenage GSK/Wellcome Trust/Mandelson Animal Torture Park
18-02-2010 18:59 | 12 comments

Text Call out to Brendan / London Animal Rights and Bedford Animal Rights.
18-02-2010 18:48 | 16 comments

Text Big Pharma security thug threats to kill gay AR activist with crack cocaine.
15-02-2010 19:54 | 6 comments

Text Activists sent details of child & threatening letters from government/MI5/DWP
04-02-2010 15:07 | 20 comments

Image Hogmanay in Parliament Square
25-01-2010 09:48 | 7 comments

Image Christmas in Parliament Square
30-12-2009 16:17

Text B&K Universal- Blood on their Hands RALLY
29-12-2009 00:37 | 4 comments

Text Maria Gallastegui arrested at the Cenotaph War memorial.
04-11-2009 21:35 | 1 addition | 1 comment

Image 229 Minute Afghanistan Vigil, Cenotaph, London - pictures.
04-11-2009 21:19 | 6 comments

Image Report and 20 photos of Stop the War march and rally on Saturday 24th October
28-10-2009 11:15

Text Sean Kirtley Released From Prison After Appeal Victory!
17-09-2009 18:06 | 21 comments

Image Brian Haw in Parliament Square - 3,018 days and counting!
06-09-2009 05:19 | 1 comment

Audio Dialect - Global Economic Crisis or Global Confidence Trick?
29-08-2009 00:11

Image Brian Haw Parliament Square anti-war vigil - Day 3000 - pics
20-08-2009 00:27 | 3 comments

Image Open letter to David Cameron about Brian Haw
19-08-2009 09:38

Image Brian Haw will shortly clock up day 3,000 in Parliament Square
14-08-2009 14:35 | 4 comments

Image Photographers to “Flash-Mob” Canary Wharf – as new campaign is launched.
10-08-2009 13:31

Image Brian Haw - day 2,970 of his magnificent protest!
20-07-2009 15:33 | 5 comments

Image Stop and account for your actions fill in form 5090(X)!
08-07-2009 13:35 | 6 comments

Image A Plaque for Tony Blair
04-07-2009 13:18 | 4 comments

Audio churchill statue converted to sri lankan extermination camp
01-07-2009 07:55 | 1 comment

Text Mas protest to save the Tamils Sat. 20th June
14-06-2009 20:44 | 3 comments

Text Its Non Tamil!
03-06-2009 15:05 | 2 comments

Image Brian Haw - 8 years today in London's Parliament Square!
02-06-2009 13:23

Image battle of the tamil flags - parliament square
27-05-2009 11:21 | 1 addition | 11 comments

Text London Tamil Protest Policing Questioned/ video and blog
19-05-2009 12:32

Text INDYMEDIA SCOOP - repressing protest - what's next?
13-05-2009 22:27 | 13 comments

Text Demonstrations in Parliament Square, London.
13-05-2009 11:51 | 7 comments

Image Tamil blockade of Parliament Monday 11th May
12-05-2009 20:41 | 1 comment

Text SOCPA has withered away
08-05-2009 18:15 | 11 comments

Text Highgate Farm- Trial over.
08-05-2009 00:49 | 10 comments

Text SOCPA prosecution collapses in disarray
07-05-2009 22:20 | 3 comments

Image strike against genocide - today 29th april, westminster
28-04-2009 23:57

Text Reminder: "On Strike against Genocide"tomorrow 29/04
28-04-2009 18:32

Image "On Strike Against Genocide" Wednesday
26-04-2009 21:32 | 1 comment

Video Video of Critical Mass London 15th Anniversary ride.
26-04-2009 11:47

Text The JCHR is asking for fresher evidence on the policing of protests
23-04-2009 17:42 | 3 comments

Text Call Out -- Day or Night
20-04-2009 19:19

Text 2500 Tamils gather in Parliament square for rally
20-04-2009 11:20 | 2 comments

Text Fast unto last breathe - Day 13
19-04-2009 20:46

Image SOCPA, the tamils, and the grass
17-04-2009 12:14 | 2 comments

Text Supporting the Tamil protests, SOCPA arrest
10-04-2009 14:46 | 4 comments

Image Tamil protest still going strong / 8th April 3pm
08-04-2009 14:07 | 3 comments

Text Tamil protest still going strong /continues
07-04-2009 18:05 | 5 comments

Text Main points from JCHR report on Policing and Protest
25-03-2009 15:05

Text London Critical Mass sound systems.
23-03-2009 07:47

Text Police too heavy handed says Parliamentary Committee.
23-03-2009 07:16 | 8 comments

Text The SOCPA zone: one year dead
20-03-2009 15:35

Image more lawlessness in parliament square
11-03-2009 18:29

XML UK SOCPA Newswire Archive