UK: Demonstrator wins right to protest outside Parliament
01 May 2005
In July, Brian Haw, the anti-war protestor who has been demonstrating outside parliament for the past four years, won his High Court challenge against new laws that threatened to evict him. Under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, which became law earlier this year, from 1 August all protestors have to obtain police permission before staging a demonstration in the half-mile area around Westminster. Haw, who has been camping in Parliament Square since June 2001, sought permission from the High Court for judicial review on the basis that his protest pre-dates the new laws. On 29 July the three judges who heard his case ruled, by a 2-1 majority, that the law could not be used to evict Haw and further that he need not apply for permission to continue his protest. They confirmed what the government had already admitted; that the law had been badly drafted. Nathalie Lieven, a spokesperson for the Home Secretary, said: "Nobody is infallible, including parliamentary draftsmen. It is plain it was a mistake. The wrong words were used". The government had tried to rectify their error in June through a commencement order which stated that the new law applied to those continuing as well as starting new protests. Lady Justice Smith found that such secondary legislation could not be used "to criminalise conduct which would not otherwise be criminal."
To compound the government's embarrassment the decision also meant that anyone could conduct a protest exempt from the new laws providing they initiated it before the start of August. Haw's solicitor, David Thomas, also warned that his client's case may be the first of many: "...it [the Act] will be susceptible to a human rights challenge, as it strikes at the heart of the right to peaceful protest". On the day of its introduction around 100 people staged a symbolic protest outside Westminster, five of whom were arrested. Lindsey German, convenor of the Stop the War Coalition, claimed the dictation of who can and cannot demonstrate to be "totally unacceptable". Jeremy Corbyn, a Labour MP who himself was breaking the new law by addressing the crowd, said: "This is absolutely absurd. Ordinary people have been arrested for taking part in a perfectly peaceful demonstration outside parliament during the recess...I suspect this provocative action by the police on the first day of this new law may encourage other demonstrations."
Guardian 26.7.05, 2.6.05; BBC website 26.7.05, 1.8.05