News

LONDON DEMOS CONTINUE DISPITE THE DRACONIAN MET

Another day of demos back in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police, and a very bizarre one at that. We started our demonstration of just 5 people outside AstraZeneca on Stanhope Gate and were requested not to use our megaphones by the policewomen who initially showed up. This request was declined and we continued a meaningful demonstration outside their building. Soon afterwards, a sergeant showed up and decided to enforce section 42, meaning on this instance that we couldn't use a megaphone, couldn't shout, and had to stand about 50 yards away on the other side of the road. When questioned why he was imposing some of his restrictions, he simply said "Because I can." This is abysmal policing and our right to protest is under attack from all angles when demonstrating inside the Metropolitan police boundaries. The section 42 order was partially ignored and, while at one stage one of the protesters was told he was under arrest, after he laid on the road for about 5 minutes he seemed to have managed to de-arrest himself. The sergeant had no confidence in the laws he was trying to enforce and left the scene before the protester had even got up out of the road, declaring "I'm off!". Eventually we finished the demonstration silently, but outside the AstraZeneca offices.

Stanhope Gate is becoming a regular battleground between the Draconian Met police and SHAC, who are only trying to save animals from torture. What we really want to be able to do is demonstrate effective and peacefully against those guilty of the crimes against the animals, without having a biased police force trying every trick in the book to make all our demonstrations ineffective. The right to protest is part of the foundation of a free, open and democratic society, and some of the policemen we regularly deal with should be deeply ashamed of themselves for undermining this right. If they had the brains to realise it, they should see that their children will have to live in this oppressive police state that they are helping to build. This is not what freedom is about.

We ended the day with about half an hour of leafleting outside Pakistan International Airlines, who still fly wild-caught primates around the world for vivisection. The fight goes on against the animal abusers.


Back to Home page
LONDON DEMOS CONTINUE DISPITE THE DRACONIAN MET Another day of demos back in the jurisdiction of the Metropolitan police, and a very bizarre one at that. We started our demonstration of just 5 people outside AstraZeneca on Stanhope Gate and were requested not to use our megaphones by the policewomen who initially showed up. This request was declined and we continued a meaningful demonstration outside their building. Soon afterwards, a sergeant showed up and decided to enforce section 42, meaning on this instance that we couldn't use a megaphone, couldn't shout, and had to stand about 50 yards away on the other side of the road. When questioned why he was imposing some of his restrictions, he simply said "Because I can." This is abysmal policing and our right to protest is under attack from all angles when demonstrating inside the Metropolitan police boundaries. The section 42 order was partially ignored and, while at one stage one of the protesters was told he was under arrest, after he laid on the road for about 5 minutes he seemed to have managed to de-arrest himself. The sergeant had no confidence in the laws he was trying to enforce and left the scene before the protester had even got up out of the road, declaring "I'm off!". Eventually we finished the demonstration silently, but outside the AstraZeneca offices. Stanhope Gate is becoming a regular battleground between the Draconian Met police and SHAC, who are only trying to save animals from torture. What we really want to be able to do is demonstrate effective and peacefully against those guilty of the crimes against the animals, without having a biased police force trying every trick in the book to make all our demonstrations ineffective. The right to protest is part of the foundation of a free, open and democratic society, and some of the policemen we regularly deal with should be deeply ashamed of themselves for undermining this right. If they had the brains to realise it, they should see that their children will have to live in this oppressive police state that they are helping to build. This is not what freedom is about. We ended the day with about half an hour of leafleting outside Pakistan International Airlines, who still fly wild-caught primates around the world for vivisection. The fight goes on against the animal abusers.
HLS \| SHAC \| Action \| Targets \| Financial \| Scientific \| Merchandise \| Features