Carolyn went to the Houses of Parliament to arrest Tony Blair; this is an account of her experiences.
PARLIAMENT 21ST MARCH 2007
I watched the news on the evening of 20th March 2007 and realised that tomorrow was budget day. Suddenly something that had never interested me before was a riveting piece of information. I knew exactly what I had to do!
The next morning I left my house to travel to London in my new car. A Rover 220SD- diesel powered and turbo charged. Perfect for the job ahead! I played Skunk Anansie's "Skankheads" to match my mood of defiance! I thought about Tony Blair and all of the other war criminals who murder babies for money and I was determined.
I arrived in Parliament Square, 21st March 2007. There was beautiful Barbara and lovely Maria. I dropped off my tent and said, "Right! Now I'm going to arrest Tony Blair!" I drove off and spun the car safely around Parliament Square!
I had been in the Square the day before to mark the 4th anniversary of the illegal invasion, the illegal war, the genocide, those poor, poor babies, those poor women and men, mothers and fathers seeing their depleted uranium deformed babies. Knowing that they will never have a normal baby! What happens to these women, who leave the hospitals in horror?
I knew that if the police moved out of the way I could drive straight in. But I did not want to hurt anyone obviously! I sat at the traffic lights and turned "Skankheads" up fullblast, I made sure that my poster was to hand so that they would know immediately why I had invaded! There it was clearly put in orange paint "I, CAROLYN EMMERSON, CHARGE YOU, TONY BLAIR, WITH INTERNATIONAL ACTS OF AGGRESSION AND I CLAIM MY RIGHT TO MAKE A CITIZEN'S ARREST ON BEHALF OF THE ATTOURNEY GENERAL".
I looked across at the gates of Parliament, smiling. Two groups of Japanese tourists and the police officers who usually stand in the middle so one cannot drive straight in parted like the darlings I've come to know them to be. "Get off, Get off me. GET OFF, GET OFF ME!" Skin screeches through the speakers. The lights change, "VROOOOOMM".
"Stay out of the way, stay out of the way, STAY OUT OF THE WAY!!!" I call out. The music is loud! And I'm in, right in at the barrier, through the gates of Parliament! I have my poster against the window. I'm shouting, "I've come to arrest Tony Blair, he's a war criminal, he's killing the babies!" The police are banging on the window, "I'm sorry officer, I can't hear you my music's too loud!" I say. One is doing all the talking! "I know," I say, "I'll turn it down shall I?" I turn the dulcet tones of Skin down to a whisper and turn to look at the officer, "What appears to be the problem officer?" I ask, "I've come to arrest Tony Blair- he's a war criminal!"
"Open your window now!"
I open my window and he puts a metal rod in the gap- I later discover that this is a taise weapon. The next few minutes happen very quickly.
"Unlock your doors!"
"No! I'm an honourable British citizen. I've come to do the job that you should be doing, arresting criminals. I'm not a criminal. I'm a pacifist and I want them to stop killing the children. I love children!"
"Unlock your door otherwise I'll smash the window!"
I don't want my windows smashed and so I unlock the doors and grab my keys just as the officer tries to grab them, "You're not having those they're mine!" I shriek. Two officers try to remove me from the car- no chance! I jam my feet in by the pedals and push my back against the seat. "Get out of the car!"
"Nooooooo!! I've come to arrest Tony Blair! Owwww! Police brutality! Everybody film this-" everybody is filming this all around the fences, on phones, on cameras! "- I'm a pacifist- I don't have any weapons!"
"If you don't get out of the car I'm going to use this!" he puts what I realise must be a taise gun on my upper leg. "This will really hurt!" I don't want to be taised- I've heard it feels like being shot. I get out of the car!
That's when the trouble really began! Could they get my hands behind my back? They could not! Eventually four police officers who badly injured my ring finger and my thumb got cuffs on to me and marched me to the little police house in Parliament- where in the end we had quite a chat, myself and those officers. The one who threatened to break my thumb apologised and I told him not to do it again. He said that he wouldn't.
I said, "Sergeant Healey! Am I now a criminal for driving through the security at Palace of Westminster?"
Sergeant Healey said, "No! It's not a criminal offence!"
"So is it a civil offence then?"
"No it's not even a civil offence!" he said.
"So what have I done wrong then? Why are you holding me? I have to arrest the war criminals we're wasting time!"
"Basically!" he smiled, "You've broken the house rules! Like if you were in court and you shouted at the judge- you would be in contempt of court- you are in contempt of Parliament!"
"Well Sergeant Healey," I stated, "I am in contempt of Parliament! So that must mean that I've done the right thing by driving my car through the security mustn't it!"
"No comment!" he said. I was released without charge after 3 hours, my car returned to me and asked not to do it again that day by Sergeant Healey because of all the extra paperwork.
The reason that I took such a drastic action? As I told the anti-terrorism man, who said to me that I could have been shot- "If I'd been a muslim I probably would have been"- I don't want to live in a world where you're more likely to be shot for the colour of your skin, or your race. I don't want to live in a world where innocent people are shot. "That's why I had to do it because I'm small, female, English, very strong with a big gob!" He said I had a lot of bottle!
"ARREST TONY BLAIR, GORDON BROWN, MARGARET BECKETT, JACK STRAW ETC. All that say yes to war!
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