UK: Brian Haw - what price parliamentary democracy?
01 May 2006
On an early morning in late May a Metropolitan police squad, comprising more than 70 officers, launched a raid on the lone anti-war protestor, Brian Haw, who has been demonstrating outside parliament since 2 June 2001. Initially Brian began his demonstration to protest at economic sanctions on Iraq, which are estimated to have cost around a million Iraqi lives, and the bombing of the country by the USA and the UK. He later extended his protest to cover the war on terror, in support "of those innocent people who suffer and die in other countries, as out governments seek to further their own economic, military, political and strategic interests around the world." The police have repeatedly attempted to remove Brian from outside the mother of parliaments, but in October 2002 he won a major case at the High Court in which it ruled that he was exercising his freedom of speech; his placards did not constitute advertising and his pavement obstruction was not unreasonable.
In 2005 the government passed the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) aimed at preventing protests at designated areas, such as Parliament Square. While section 132 of the Act appeared to be tailored to get rid of Brian, it also severely restricted the right to protest for 1 km around parliament. Days before it came into force in August 2005 a High Court hearing ruled that, because of poor drafting, the Act did not apply to Brian as police authorisation for his demonstration was not retrospective; this ruling was overturned at the Court of Appeal in May 2006. The police have imposed increasingly restrictive conditions on his protest since the appeal.
On 23 May 2006 the Metropolitan police mounted a huge night-time operation to remove almost all of Brian's placards and exhibitions to comply with the new SOCPA conditions that stipulate that they must fit into a space of 3 square metres. The raid required at least 70 police officers and left only two or three placards; three people were arrested. The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Ian Blair, told the Metropolitan Police Authority that the raid had cost £7,200 (including £3,000 for police overtime). However, the
Daily Telegraph newspaper has revealed that the raid on the lone protestor actually cost the taxpayer £27,750. The Liberal Democrat spokesman on the police at the London Assembley has said that the mass deployment of police officers to evict the peace protestor brought the Metropolitan police force in to disrepute: "Brian Haw's protest is seen as an irritant by the authorities, but the right to be an irritant is a fundamental part of out democratic process. The whole operation was an embarrassment for the Met and a waste of money and officer time that could be spent in protecting the capital."
Parliament Square Peace Campaign, www.parliament-square.org.uk