Skip to content or view screen version

UK 2011 Census Resistance Newswire Archive

Full article

Baloch Nation Completely Boycott Pakistani Elections on May 11th 2013

10-05-2013 17:49

Baloch Nation completely bycott up coming pakistani election 11 may 2013

Full article | 2 comments

Census case verdict in Liverpool: Donate to support refusers

20-10-2012 16:50

Andy Manifold was back at Liverpool's Dale Street Magistrates' Court on Friday 19 October to hear the outcome of his trial on a charge of failing to complete the 2011 Census. Six people held a solidarity vigil outside the court beforehand. In the week that the CPS dropped charges against another census refuser in Liverpool, Andy was found guilty, fined and costs were awarded against him.

A number of people are now in the position of having fines taken directly from their benefits. As these aren't enough to live on even before any deductions, please consider making a donation to the solidarity fund if you can afford it, and particularly if you resisted the census but weren't prosecuted. Over 1 in 20 households didn't complete a census return (see this Daily Telegraph article) but only a few hundred people were prosecuted. Donation details below.

Full article | 9 comments

Solidarity with John Bowden in Liverpool

19-10-2012 20:27

We were back at Liverpool Magistrates' Court today in solidarity with Census refuser Andy Manifold (report to follow). As it was also International Day of Solidarity with John Bowden and we were going to be standing outside the court for quite a while, a placard for John seemed appropriate.

Full article | 1 comment

L'pool Census Refuser prosecutions. Sarah Ledsom – case dropped

18-10-2012 09:21

Last week, after a hearing during which Sarah handed over to the Judge and Prosecution a list of arguments for her case to be dropped the CPS wrote to inform her that the case would indeed be discontinued. None of these arguments included Sarah's health, although she did complain about disability discrimination - including the extra court hearings she'd had to attend because legal aid had been refused and which had caused her additional pain. The grounds cited by the CPS for dropping the case - “your significant ill health” - are significantly unconvincing and a more plausible explanation is that the CPS realised that to continue with the case would expose issues to do with the census they would rather keep out of the public domain, and that some of their more questionable behaviour might be revealed in open court. Read on...

Full article | 1 comment

L'pool: Support Census Refuser Andy Manifold - court verdict Fri 19 Oct. Join Us.

17-10-2012 16:01

Outside the court on 8 October
The costly and pointless shambles of census prosecutions continue to unfold in Liverpool where one verdict is due on Friday while the CPS has suddenly and for distinctly unconvincing reasons discontinued another case that had yet to reach trial. In a third case, where the defendant lost on appeal, the fine is now being collected weekly from the defendant's benefits against his will. There's a lot of information here, so I'll put it into separate posts. First, Andy Manifold, back in court on Friday. Report about Sarah's case here:  https://indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/10/501387.html

Full article

Photos from Census Resistance solidarity vigil at Liverpool court

08-10-2012 23:01

Census refusers Andy Manifold and Sarah Ledsom were at Dale Street Magistrates Court in Liverpool today for their trials in connection with refusing to complete the 2011 Census on grounds of conscience. Neither trial reached a conclusion and further dates have been set.

Join anti-war/solidarity vigils outside the court again from 1pm on Friday 19 October (Andy) and Friday 23 November (Sarah).

Full article

8 October: Two Census Refuser Trials in Liverpool. Vigils outside.

06-10-2012 10:48

Two people accused of failing to complete the 2011 Census will appear again at Liverpool Magistrates Courts on Monday 8 October in cases that have been dragging on since the beginning of the year. Andrew Manifold's hearing will be at Victoria Street court in the morning and Sarah Ledsom's at Dale Street in the afternoon. Please show your support outside the courts from 9.30am (Victoria St) and 1:30pm (Dale St). Hearings commence at 10am and 2pm respectively.

Full article

Census refuser on trial in Reading

01-10-2012 16:11

Video
Deborah Glass Woodin, from Oxford, decided not to comply with the 2011 Census. This is the story of her trial at Reading Magistrates Court, including her reasons for resisting the census.

Full article | 1 comment

Census resistance update: including court dates

29-09-2012 11:48

18 months after the 2011 Census, court cases are dragging on against a tiny proportion of those who resisted the Census on anti-war and privacy grounds, mainly but not entirely because of Census data processing contracts with Lockheed Martin (England and Wales) and CACI (Scotland). For background and other reports on this, see the Indymedia census topic, Count Me Out and Ethical Census.

Full article

Scottish Census case against Barbara Dowling adjourned again

26-09-2012 14:20

The case against peace activist Barbara Dowling on a criminal charge of failing to comply with the 2011 Census was scheduled for Tuesday 25 September but has now been adjourned again until 19 Feb 2013, 10am, at Glasgow Sheriff Court.

In Scotland, a large contract for the census was awarded to CACI Ltd, British subsidiary of a US-based defence contractor implicated in serious human rights violations at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq for which it faces no criminal sanctions although some former Abu Ghraib prisoners are bringing a civil lawsuit against the company in the US. Nearly 200,000 households in Scotland failed to return the 2011 Census questionnaire as required by law, many in protest at CACI's involvement, but just five prosecutions have been brought.

Full article

Census case against Jane Howarth dismissed

26-09-2012 10:08

In August, the case against Jane Howarth by the Crown Prosecution Service on behalf of the Office for National Statistics over the 2011 Census was dismissed by District Judge Gray on the first day of a two day long trial at Exeter Magistrates Court after a number of pretrial hearings and adjournments in this case that had been ongoing since the beginning of the year. Evidence contained in the prosecution witness statements didn't support the summons and in court the witnesses lied as well as contradicting their own statements.

Full article

Nagasaki anniversary, Census resistance and Lockheed Martin

09-08-2012 17:29

The cases of two census resisters opposed to arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin's census involvement continued today in Liverpool with another pretrial hearing at Dale Street Magistrates Court. The hearing coincided with the 67th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki in which the company now known as Lockheed Martin made the planes that dropped the bombs.

Full article | 2 additions | 5 comments

Census Refuser Derek Shields' Appeal at the Crown Court in Liverpool (Part 1)

08-06-2012 22:45

Derek Shields was found guilty of failing to complete the 2011 Census at Liverpool Magistrates court in January.  http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2012/01/491235.html. He explained to the magistrates that he had refused to comply because of Lockheed Martin's involvement in the Census ('I'm not getting into bed with an arms dealer') and his Christian faith. Today, the Crown Court upheld that conviction for reasons that have yet to be given. An application by the prosecution (respondents) for £1,300 in costs was refused. No costs were awarded against Derek. Derek has made it clear that he does not intend to pay the fine imposed by the Magistrates Court.