As the Stop The Arms Fair week of action gets into full swing, Carl Spender and Kat Hobbs take a look the story of a 4 year legal battle over a classic activist charge: wilful obstruction of the public highway. The Ziegler case has set a legal precedent which will affect many of our movements
The raid on Animal/Extinction Rebellion’s warehouse shows why you shouldn’t publicly broadcast plans to break the law. On multiple occasions over the last few years, I have taken it upon myself to caution the wider movement – and Extinction Rebellion activists in particular – that if you publicly advertise an agreement or plan to break
Yesterday, Avon and Somerset police quietly admitted that no officers suffered broken bones during Sunday’s Kill The Bill protest. In a statement posted to their website, the force said: “Thankfully following a full medical assessment of the two officers taken to hospital, neither were found to have suffered confirmed broken bones.” This is quite an
Freedom’s resident cop-botherer, Carl Spender, sits down with John and Kat from Bristol Copwatch to discuss the group’s first year of existence and the painstaking work of building a grassroots police monitoring project. Please be aware that this article contains descriptions of racist police violence. CS: I guess it’s traditional to begin with some introductions.
Carl Spender examines the details of the Stansted 15 judgement and – with his usual dourness – finds a lot to be disappointed about. As readers of Freedom are no doubt aware: earlier this week, activists who blocked a deportation flight at Stansted Airport in 2017 had their convictions for “intentional disruption of services at
Yesterday evening officers from the Met’s infamous Territorial Support Group shut down a protest called in memory of Mohamud Mohammed Hassan, a 24 year old black man who died following police contact in Cardiff last Saturday. Using powers granted to them by the Health Protection regulations, officers moved quickly to disperse the assembly, issuing spot
From the legislative war on sex workers to new rules governing criminal record disclosure, Carl Spender is here with a round-up of the last month’s legal news. On more than one occasion this year, I have lamented the never-ending game of catch-up I seem to be playing with the mutating provisions of the Health Protection
Earlier this morning, Highbury Magistrates threw out a case against two Haringey locals charged with obstructing immigration enforcement officers. The case related to an incident in February of this year near Green Lanes, following a raid by a Home Office Immigration Enforcement team. The defendants stood watch on the operation, ensuring that people in the
I’ll keep this brief, as whatever I say here will no doubt be out of date within a week. On Wednesday night, parliament approved The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 which legally enforces England’s second coronavirus lockdown. With respect to protest, the legislation is deeply confused and confusing, in that it
This article discusses racist police violence and deaths in custody. As readers are doubtlessly aware: in the early hours of Friday morning a police officer was shot and killed in Croydon custody centre. While the details surrounding the incident are still unclear, cops and their right wing cheerleaders are already using it as an opportunity
Van Gogh soup protest and M25 blockade among cases in January hearing ~ Andy Meinke ~ In July, when five Just Stop Oil activists were jailed for a total of 21 years for a plan to block the M25 motorway in London, it was part of a huge jump in sentencing for peaceful protesters.
Walkout over pay and conditions expected on 19 December as company refuses to engage with union ~ Cristina Sykes ~ Hundreds of workers across Harrods’ retail, restaurant, kitchen and cleaning departments have returned a resounding 95% yes vote to strike action in the Christmas season.
It seems like in the year 2024, governments and the people supporting them have accomplished the impossible in terms of normalising death—but refusal persists ~ Juju Alerta ~ With a wild demonstration to enliven the St Pauli district of Hamburg, people from different countries gathered in the city in mid-November to exchange stories and discussions
Items discussed in this program: Rojava emergency with renewal of war in Syria • Repression against Kurdish activists in the UK • Deportation machine in overdrive under Labour • Newport Radical Bookfair revived
Outrage at forced removal of children from Christmas market ~ Lulu Smith ~ Community advocacy groups rallied outside Parliament yesterday (2 December) against Manchester police brutality and GRT discrimination.
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