The Evening Standard are hardly known for their love of progressive politics and anti-government demonstrators. Nevertheless, their columnist Richard Godwin recently wrote a sympathetic piece regarding recent protester sentencing and in defense of protesting: ‘Those with legitimate complaints about tax avoidance and the assault on universities are now written off as a band of extremist […]
~ read more ~Monthly archives for July, 2011
After Stephenson & Yates Resign - CALLS GROW FOR CHARGES AGAINST PROTESTERS TO BE DROPPED
“We demand that all prosecutions brought against protesters, as a result of investigations by this tainted force and charging decisions by the Crown Prosecution Service, be dropped immediately and that an inquiry be held into the process that has led to punitive sentences being meted out by the judiciary to those already convicted” Printed in […]
~ read more ~Piece by UK Uncut Protester and the FM145
[Photo from the Fortnum and Mason plea hearing at Westminster on July 5th, taken by Arbolioto] Full piece, ‘On Getting my Charges Dropped in the Fortnum & Mason 145 Case’ by Ellie at New Left Project ‘To me, the actions of the Met felt like a particularly mendacious attempt to silence people who were doing […]
~ read more ~Sir Paul Stephenson’s Strange Definition of ‘Restraint’
[Mounted police drive their horses into protesters during student demonstrations in London, 9 December 2010. Photograph: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images] [This piece was published in the Guardian here and in the paper on 19th July] In Sir Paul Stephenson’s resignation as Metropolitan police commissioner on Sunday night, one of the things he claimed he was most […]
~ read more ~109 UK Uncut Protesters Have Charges Dropped
[Supporters of UK Uncut outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court for initial hearings on July 5th. Photograph by Melpressman for Demotix] Story in the Guardian here. Includes the claim that police tricked protesters into being arrested at Fortnum & Mason’s on March 26th: Following the mass arrest, activists claimed they had been “tricked”, as they said Clark […]
~ read more ~Cambridge Dons in Solidarity with Charlie Gilmour
[Cross-posted from Cambridge Defend Education. The letter also appeared in today’s Guardian.] As Cambridge University dons, we view with some disquiet the 16 month prison sentence imposed on Cambridge student, Charlie Gilmour, following his arrest during a student fees’ protest last winter. Charlie was charged with violent disorder related to kicking in, though not breaking, […]
~ read more ~Cambridge University Students Stand by their fellow student Charlie Gilmour
“Our support, love and sympathies are with Charlie, his closest friends and his family. The sit-in at Cambridge University in Winter last year was part of a wave of dissent and action by a generation of students and their supporters across the UK; we are proud that Charlie was there, that he brought his humour, […]
~ read more ~Charlie Gilmour
On July 15th, Charlie Gilmour was sentenced to 16 months imprisonment on two counts of violent disorder (court report can be found here). Gilmour was found guilty of sitting on the bonnet of a car protecting Charles and Camilla and of allegedly throwing a bin. Gilmour had pleaded guilty earlier in the year, but there […]
~ read more ~Francis Fernie
[Photograph of Francis being manhandled by police, copyright Milena Nova] On July 7th Francis Fernie, a 20-year-old student from York, was given a ridiculously punitive 12-month sentence for “violent disorder”, in this case chucking a couple of flimsy sticks from protest banners, injuring no one. There is a Facebook group set up to help him […]
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