This is a demonstration in England being denied to us by the Police

This is how our freedom of speech is being treated, our RIGHT top freely protest. They are ILLEGALY closing down the protest, aboloshing our RIGHTS to a peaceful protest!

uk.youtube.com...

The police are breaking the law, denying us the right to campaign and confiscating materials, on what legal basis are they confiscating cameras and paraphenalia... No reason!

The secretary of the University and college in liverpool asks many valid questions and the police ignore him...

[edit on 14-10-2008 by mr-lizard]

[edit on 14-10-2008 by mr-lizard]

1 question - was the demonstration blocking or disrupting traffic in any way.

I ask this only because that would give them right to come in and shut it down.

Now as for the taking of materials, tables and other personal property...definitely not within their rights (not here in Canada anyway).

I am quite amazed that such a small protest would be harassed like this at all.

Here in Vancouver BC we protest on a semi-regular basis and it'ssupervised by the police and media is always televising the events. rarely does it end up in confiscation of property or even arrests (unless someone really steps over the line).

Great that these things are documented and questioned. S & F

Welcome to the One World Fascist Police State of Earth. Every country will soon be assimilated. Resistance is futile.

The protest was not on the city street, as far as I could tell. The only traffic restriction seemed to be the police vans that arrived to collect up the materials and possibly anyone that did not stand there and "take it up the tailpipe".

So, this is something that perplexes me. American and Great Britain, along with many other allies around the world, have agreed to invasions on countries like Panama, Somalia, Iraq...to beat back tyranny and decimation in those countries, only to now be the up&coming leaders in the oppression of people and rites of freedom.
I wonder if some day in the near future, some country will invade the US on the premise that it is here to overthrow the dictatorship to free the people of the US? At the rate we are going in the free world, that seems to be the only likely scenario.
Or maybe that movement might come from within, but I didnt say anything radical here. move along.

Awesome piece of evidence on how governments are step by step eroding our rights. I like how buddy gets right in that piggers face and asks him about the legal basis of their actions. But the pig doesn't even try to answer. What was the protest over? Anti-war? I heard somebody say something about national healthcare?

A freedom of speech march (ironically)

Bold street isn't a main road, if anything literally thousands of people walk along THE ROAD itself during the day and night... Anybody who knows Liverpool well, will know to avoid that street in any form of vehicle...

So effectively they ARE the public and being the public.

This is some more information I have gathered... from the 'Defend the right to freedom of speech' Facebook group and has also led me to an indimedia link forwards...

www.indymedia.org.uk...


The quote is from a witness.

"Last Saturday (11th) Merseyside Police broke up a legal political mass stall by various organisations on Church Street in Liverpool city centre that had been planned for some time, arresting two political activists in the process. The mass stall was arranged by various groups after the wrongful arrest of a Liverpool political activist in August for distributing leaflets and selling political newspapers on Church Street, allowed under Government legislation and Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998.

Last Saturday, various groups arranged to meet on Bold Street before heading to Church Street to set up stalls at one o’clock in the afternoon. Upon our arrival a police officer was already present harassing the Cuba Solidarity group. After seeing the various groups arrive the officer then called for backup and within fifteen minutes there were several officers on the scene removing stalls and literature from all groups present without any warning. This caused a major protest in the street and led to the heavy handed arrests of an Anarchist Federation member and a animal rights activist. The AF activist was arrested for simply refusing to stop handing out leaflets before refusing to give his details to the police. As well as this, the police were also heavy handed towards other activists and forcefully attempted to arrest two female activists later on.

The police action led to members of the public joining activists in successfully blocking the police car with the activists inside for nearly an hour, preventing the officers from leaving Church Street and heading to the police station. The police officers then called for even more re-enforcements who arrived and forcefully moved the protesters back, resulting in the police cars finally leaving Church Street with the two activists inside.

The disgraceful behaviour of the police managed to attract the attention of a good amount of passers by who joined in the protest and the police were completely humiliated and outnumbered.

The only obstruction in Church Street, Liverpool was Merseyside police vehicles and the crowd who gathered to see what was going on and stayed to support the
protest. Activists and the public surrounded and blocked the exit of the police van, but the police were being hardline and couldn't see that they caused the biggest obstruction in Liverpool for many years. The
public were on the side of the political activists and chanted with us at various times "Let Them Go! - Let Them Go!" The police were offered the chance a
number of times to unarrest the activists (as they could have done at any time) and we would disperse.

Merseyside police went in heavy handed and nobody could reason with them, the two arrested are due to be summonsed along with another 8 to 12 people despite doing nothing illegal.

For years political organisations have gathered on a weekend in various parts of the city centre and have been tolerated during that time. However, recently we have seen the harassment of activists on a weekly basis from the police during the Capital of Culture year in an attempt to “clean up the streets”. The actions of several police officers on the 11th October were yet another attempt to break up a legal gathering of activists.

This saturday various groups will gather again as usual in the city centre to demand the basic right to freedom of speech and peaceful assembly and support from members of the public is needed on this day. I ask all of you reading this to attend and pass the details of this event on to other people in order to obtain a good presence on the day.'

--

Any more information will be posted.

At least in Liverpool, and this is the reason why I love Liverpool.... There is a HUGE community spirit and although it has had terrible press from some garbage rags such as the SUN newspaper, this is one reason why i think it won the capital of culture.... NO VIOLENCE, just our right to peace!

One Love

Mr - L

[edit on 14-10-2008 by mr-lizard]

[edit on 14-10-2008 by mr-lizard]

forums.liverpooldailypost.co.uk...

www.permanentrevolution.net...

www.911forum.org.uk...


Some discussions on the same subject

and good links to PHOTOS of the event

www.indymedia.org.uk...

flickr.com...

[edit on 14-10-2008 by mr-lizard]

You see... PEACEFUL!



Oh the irony!



Public walk way!




Confiscation of paraphenalia

For officers sworn to defend the public,these fellows fall terribly short.Not once did I hear an explaination from the police as to the action they were taking.
This is the mentality that police in the US share with their British counterparts.The public is a nuisance to them,rabble to disregard and disperse.Their actions purport the color of law,which in fact is no law at all.
Telling a citizen to remove themselves from the premisis,and when questioned as to why?Are told because I say so.Is that a lawful order?
It would appear to me that when a law is being enforced,the officer should be able to site the particular law.And why you are deemed to be breaking it.

Their purpose is to make you stop protesting.

The answer is to protest even more. Get arrested, get your stuff confiscated, whatever, but if you let them dissuade you from dissenting you have lost.

It was good to see that the crowd joined in with the protesters. Everyone knew the police were clearly in the wrong. This protest, against abuse of the freedom of free speech and the right to peaceful protest, should be repeated in an even larger way, over and over again.

Wow..I was quite stunned when the cops started packing up the protestors pamphlets,etc. They were only peacefully displaying them on a table? Wtf is going on in the Uk??

Good to see toward the end of the video many of the people present vocally expressed their disgust. It really pisses me off to see this kind of abuse of power.



[edit on 15-10-2008 by Nonchalant]

I'm totally shocked at these videos. Wow!

I'm British but moved to Spain about 5 years ago and whenever we go back to visit family and friends we jokingly ask what new laws we need to be aware of but I never realised it had got to this - stopping people from campaigning for the NHS!?!

I've been seriously mulling over whether we should move back to England. Our move to Spain was supposed to be for a 12 month work contract but our children settled here and enjoyed lots more freedom than they had in England so we stayed.


With all the unease in the world and the credit crisis I've been wondering about moving back to be closer to family and friends so we'd be part of that support network. After viewing these videos I'm not so sure that it'd be a good idea to move back.

My grandad was a labour councilor and union member and campaigned for most of his life for people's rights. Thankfully, he's not around to see this happening.

Just last week I was watching a video on ATS where Americans were arrested for peacefully protesting and I found that shocking enough but to see it happening in England too has just astounded me. Neither of these incidents were on MSM and it makes me wonder how much more is going on that isn't being shown and that we never hear about.

To be totally honest I'm more worried about our governments gradually taking away our rights than I am about terrorism. Our governments are beginning a new kind of terrorism of the people and that scares the hell out of me!

This is why I think protesting is a useless waste of time. There's a sign which says "Defend Free Speech" yet nobody even defends themselves when force is applied.

To protest peacably is fine but the minute they try to infringe upon and take your rights by FORCE, is the time the entire crowd needs to react as one and make it a phsyical protest.

Your peaceful protests are absolutely USELESS and have resulted in absolutely NOTHING, other than the fact theat your standing there looking foolish and actually doing more harm for the cause. They know evertime they come in they take a little more of our rights and nothing is done.

Next time you people decide to protest, you may as well go already handcuffed, with your pants around your ankle, because your being raped of your rights, so why put up a facade if your not gonna fight.

it is getting rediculous now! They are abusing their power and most of all our trust! We rely on them to help us when we are in danger, in need of support amongst other things! Its not all police though. Just a select few who think they can rise above the rest!

Same thing that's always been going on - to place a stall on a public thoroughfare you need to first ask permission. Politely. It's the British way

But these people are anarchists, have no consideration whatsoever for law or indeed for anyone but themselves, and deliberately act in a manner which they know to be illegal with the specific intent of drawing police attention - so that they can then claim police brutality.

It's a bit like playing music in your house very loudly every night, making your neighbour complain, so that you yourself can then say your neighbour is hassling you.

Okay, so maybe the police should ignore such selfish idiots. But they are there to uphold the law, and it's not for them to decide whether or not to turn a 'blind eye'.

I say well done to them. And as for the protestors: b*gger off to Russia if you like extreme socialism so much.

oh, please stop. the police arent fairly represented-- maybe no permit (if required) was filed. maybe they had suspicion that there would be violence. maybe they needed to clear the street for an official motorcade.
i mean-- there are better protests they can bust.
im not PRO repression, of course, and its healthy to call into question, but people have been predicting a big brother fascist state since Viet nam, if not longer.

absolutely correct..those police people should have been shown what freedom means to people..

Totally agree Essan.

If you setup a stall anywhere without permission then expect to be told to remove it.

These people would have been told to move it or lose it except we do not see that part because of selective editing.

If these people really gave a funk about getting the info/materials to the masses they would have had front pouches and walked among the crowd ensuring that every person was given the vital materials. Except they didnt, they went out to antagonise and put the police in an unwinnable position.

Dont get me wrong, I am all for free speech and protesting, but you have to approach it with respect and pride.

In fact, I am angry at the organisers as they have seriously let down the people they claim to represent for not respecting the process and resorting to petty tactics to get the message out. A message that is probably lost now due to claims of police brutality and fascist agendas.



[edit on 15/10/2008 by skibtz]

GOOD!!!!!!!!!!

These protesters and unrelated passers-by got a first hand demonstration of what's to come. They got ANGRY! This is precisely what has to happen. Whilst the authorities are slowly tightening their grip, the progress towards 'police state' requires documentation in the form of protests locked down. If no-one were to protest in this time, we'll wake up in 10 years and find ourselves absolute prisoners. The fact that this protest highlighted the suppression of free speech is far more important than its original intended focus.

It would appear that there is a great need to educate the local police. Is anyone making the attempt to identify and talk to the individual policemen?

I would bet that *many* of these officers believe in individual liberties but are "following orders" to preserve their jobs and income. Talking with them (and educating them on civil liberties) now will ensure serious cracks in the foundation of the New World Order (New World Odor?) later.