Civil liberties

Until recently the 1911 Census Boycott was seen as another colourful Suffragette tactic in the ongoing campaign for women's suffrage. But Vanishing for the Vote reveals it to have been an episode of high drama – personal and political, private and public. In proposing that women boycott the census, Suffragettes intensified the 'battle for democracy', asking, Which side are you on: the paternalistic state, or the grassroots campaign for citizenship?

This was a near-…

An eight-year-old boy, standing alone outside a courthouse with a handmade sign, is approached by a group of helmeted law enforcement officers. Moments later he will be arrested.

This picture – taken in Selma, Alabama, six days after the Civil Rights Act passed into law, and one of 71 photos reproduced in Martin Berger’s stunning new collection - differs from the most famous civil rights images in a number of significant ways.

For one thing, it highlights the important role…

Most Critical Mass cycle protesters arrested on the eve of the Olympic Games in London (PN 2549) will face no further action, according to solicitors representing the protesters, speaking on 13 September.

Of the 182 people arrested on the outskirts of the Olympic Park, only 16 were interviewed by the police at the end of September.

WISE Up for Bradley Manning is a grassroots network in Wales, Ireland, Scotland and England (WISE) taking action for the young US military intelligence analyst who has been held by the US government for two years without trial.

Accused of blowing the whistle on US war crimes and revealing other truths the US would have preferred to keep buried, Bradley Manning has been tortured and denied his constitutional rights.

When US president Barack Obama, commander-in-chief of the…

Since restrictions on ‘demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament’ were first mooted in response to Brian Haw’s anti-war protest in Parliament Square, individuals have been standing up and creating a collective challenge in defence of the freedom to protest.

The restrictions received wider public attention when PN’s own Milan Rai and Maya Evans were convicted for reading out the names of Iraqi and British dead opposite Downing Street. Mark Thomas’s lone mass demos made fun of the…

The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 allowed the setting up of Special Immigration Appeals Courts.

These meet mainly in secret with only the prosecution and the judge knowing the full evidence against the defendant and the identity of witnesses.

The defendant is not allowed to know the details of some evidence obtained by security services, thus putting paid to the idea of a fair and open trial in such cases.

And now we have the recently introduced Justice and…

Maria was the only Parliament Square camper given leave to challenge the new Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act (PRASRA), which replaces the provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) which expired at the end of March.

As PN went to press, it was still not clear when the high court would announce its decision. ‘Originally, they said they would make a decision [in the week of 20 March],’ Maria told PN. ‘However, they keep on pushing the date back.…

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (PRSRA) which received royal assent on 15 September enshrines the latest attempt to try to prevent continuous protest in Parliament Square, in particular Brian Haw’s 10-year old peace camp, which continues after his death.

Part 3 of the PRSRA repeals the sections of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) that required police authorisation for political protest and banned the use of loudspeakers in an area including…

Just the facts M'Lud...

On 22 March 2003, three coaches carrying around 120 protesters travelled to USAF Fairford from London for an anti-war demonstration. It was the first weekend of the Iraq War. They were stopped and searched at the village of Lechlade, three miles from Fairford. After being held for two hours they were let back on the coaches, but instead of being allowed to proceed to the authorised demonstration they were forcibly escorted, non-stop, back to London. (For…

Aborigine Tent Embassy, Canberra, 39 years White House Peace Camp, 30 years Faslane Peace Camp, 28 years l Falun Gong protest, Chinese Embassy, London, 8 years Brian Haw Peace Camp, Parliament Square, 10 years

These are just a few examples of an established tradition of symbolic round-the-clock vigils outside government establishments worldwide. In a true democracy, people wouldn't need to resort to such extremes to have their voices heard, but the existence of these vigils is often…

Careful investigation by environmental activists has uncovered the identities of three long-term police infiltrators, one of whom advocated violence. Police constable (PC) Mark Kennedy, known in Nottingham activist circles as “Mark Stone” was publicly exposed on the Indymedia activists’ news website in late October, a fact recorded in PN 2528. (The first report in a British print publication.) Kennedy had been undercover in the environmentalist movement from 2004. In late 2009 he resigned…

London CND continue to resist police attempts to halt their monthly vigil outside parliament. We reported last issue (PN 2526) that the Metropolitan police had given up their efforts to halt the anti-Trident vigil in Parliament Square, after the police phoned London CND worker (and PN news editor) David Polden, authorising future vigils.
Just after going to press, the same officer phoned to tell David the vigil had been disallowed because it wasn’t safe. It could only be held in nearby…

The vigil, authorised by the police under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA), started in May, when the anti-war Democracy Village was already camped in the square. The village was evicted by the greater London authority (GLA) on 20 July, and a high fence erected around the square apart from an enclave for Brian Haw’s round-the-clock anti-war vigil.

Though we had applied for authorisation for the Tuesday vigils up to December 2010, the police phoned Jim Brann,…

On 8 July, home secretary Teresa May announced the suspension of “stop and search” powers under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

Section 44 allows police to stop and search anyone in a designated area without needing reasonable suspicion of their being engaged in illegal, let alone terrorist, activity.

According to ministry of justice statistics, in 2008 less than 0.1% of those stopped under the section were even arrested for terrorism offences; and black and Asian…

London mayor Boris Johnson displayed his dedication to free speech on 3 June, by asking the high court to order the immediate eviction of Democracy Village, established on Parliament Square on 1 May. He also asked for the clearance of at least one tent from Brian Haw’s peace campaign, established over nine years ago, from the grassy area of the square, managed by the Greater London Authority.

The campaigners put forward arguments based on the free speech and assembly provisions of…