Pic: Dan Fearnley
Good news today from Oxford Magistrates’ Court, where police withdrew charges against an antifascist standing trial for protesting against the National Front earlier this year.
On Saturday 26th July, police cracked down on antifascists who had gathered to oppose a National Front demonstration. They pressed charges against two of the antifascists. One was charged with ‘theft’ of Nazi banner and was placed on notice for deportation only to have the case dropped a few weeks later. The other has had to wait until today’s trial to have the case withdrawn.
There was shambles in the court today as the CPS scrambled to provide the documentation required by the defence. An agreement was reached that the antifascist would accept a ‘bind over’ for six months, means the magistrate can impose a fine for a breach of the peace. However, the antifascist will not have any criminal record. This is an important victory against the police’s attempt to criminalise protest.
Nonetheless, supporters who had gathered outside and inside the court felt it was a disgrace that the police should have wasted public money in this way and caused so much needless anxiety for the two protesters. There is clearly still a need for a public investigation into the policing of the July protest in Oxford – before, during and after it – and of other similar attacks on antifascist demonstrations in recent times.
Below is a letter signed by many local activists and organisations in advance of the hearing to that effect:
OPEN LETTER:
On Saturday 26th July, around 80 antifascists gathered in Oxford to oppose a National Front demonstration of around 30 fascists. Four antifascist protesters were arrested. Two then faced charges at Oxford Magistrates Court in August.
One was charged with ‘theft’ of a Nazi banner emblazoned with the white supremacist slogan: “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”. He had his passport confiscated, was put on notice for deportation and required to report to a police station twice a week, only to have the case against him dropped with the CPS deciding it was not ‘in the public interest’.
The other protester, however, still faces charges for a public order offence and for obstructing the police. The police also attempted to impose bail conditions which banned the protestor from taking part in any protest in the UK until the trial, but this was denied after a challenge by her lawyer.
The treatment of these two protesters is an attack on the right of people to demonstrate against fascist groups without fear of criminalisation. In this instance the NF were attempting to exploit anger at sexual abuse by calling a protest against “Asian grooming”. Yet the police responded by writing to local Mosques asking them to stay away, and warned Oxford University security services of “a counter protest involving a number of left wing groups”.
Whilst the NF were assisted in marching through the centre of the city, anti-fascist protesters were forced to remain stationary, only later allowed to march whilst kettled by mounted police. Anti-fascist protesters who were arrested were taken to another town and held in a police station until the middle of the night.
These arrests are part of a wider pattern of attacks on antifascist demonstrations, such as the mass arrest of 58 antifascist protesters at Westminster last June and 286 antifascist demonstrators at Tower Hamlets last September. There too the police used bail conditions to prevent people from attending other antifascist demonstrations, yet not one person was successfully persecuted out of the 58, and just one person was convicted of an offence relating to Tower Hamlets.
We the undersigned support the protester against these charges and call for a full investigation into the policing of this and other anti-fascist protests in recent times.
There will be a solidarity gathering outside Oxford Magistrates Court at 9am on Tuesday 11th November.
Signed by: Cllr Van Coulter (Oxford Labour city councillor), Cllr Ruthi Brandt (Oxford Green city councillor), Pat Carmody (Oxford UAF Secretary), Pól Ó Ceallaigh (President, Oxford and District Trades Union Council), Dan Fearnley (Unison Health Branch, Oxford People’s Assembly), Chris Davis (Oxfordshire Unison Health, International Officer), Steve Dawe (County Press Officer, Oxfordshire Green Party), Xavier Cohen (Oxford Activist Network), Manishta Sunnia (Oxford Black Women’s Group), Nick Evans (Oxford University UCU), Dr Peter Dwyer (Ruskin UCU), John Walker (UCU Southern Regional Exec p/c), Teresa Hayter, Vaia Patta, Wiktor Ostasz, Manuel Araújo, Rowan Davis, Mitch Mitchell (Defend the Right to Protest), Peter Hill (Oxford University UCU), Alex Marshall, James Farndon, Sarah Shoraka,Henry Holmes, Barnaby Raine (rs21), Callum Akass, Alice Sandelson, Tamison O’Connor, Luke Barratt, Sophie Frankford, Mili Malde, Hugh Jeffery, Zak Rajabally, Lara Castiglione, Anne Meeker (Campaign for Racial Awareness and Equality), Alex Cowan, Scarlett Magurie, Megan Madden, Ross Speer, Sonia Ruiz Garcia, Nancy Lindisfarne, Jonathan Neale (UCU), Indigo Wilde, Sophie Williams (British Medical Association), Martin Platais, Will Searby, Kate Bradley, Henriette Willberg, Alice Dann, Tom Hymas, Natalie Cargill, Matthew Robinson, Harriet Robinson, Helena Mika, Amy Gilligan, Annie Teriba (rs21), Max Shanly, Lee McClellam, Grace Lindin, Sarah Walker (Women of Colour), Ethan Williams, Yasmin Mahmoudi, Matt Myers (rs21), Pip Orchard, Andrew Joung, Hazel Monforton, Flora Murphy, Aliya Yule, Alizée Moreau, Lisa Longstaff (Women Against Rape).
To sign the statement, please email defendtheoxford2@gmail.com
Please attend the fb event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1494332187505501/
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