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UK: "45 Minutes Mr B-Liar"

01 November 2004

The Leader of the House of Commons, Peter Hain (a former anti-apartheid protester) has announced that the government will introduce a new clause in its Organised Crime Bill to remove a demonstrator who has been protesting outside Parliament since the summer of 2001. Ironically, Brian Haw, a 55-year christian peace campaigner, set up camp to protest at the government's attempts to crush freedom of speech. Since the invasion of Iraq his chants of "45 minutes Mr B-Liar" (a reference to the prime minister's Iraq dossier which misled the public by wrongly claiming that Saddam Hussein could launch wmd within 45 minutes) and the dozens of home-made placards have become a regular feature of the Westminster "village". Haw's protest has attracted visitor's from across the world and he has a group of helpers and supporters who sometimes join him; they include an Iraqi girl, Zenab, who had a leg amputated after a bomb in Basra. Mr Haw has won legal battles with Westminster council and earlier this year police attempted to remove him before the visit of the Chinese premier, destroying his placards and peace banners in the process. Hain, who implied that the protestor was harassing MPs, said that the new clause in the Organised Crime Bill would mean a permanent ban on daytime demonstrations and megaphones in Parliament Square.