Freedom News

Don’t want to get arrested before a demo? Then don’t publicise a plan to break the law!

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

Bristol cops quietly admit no officers suffered broken bones at Sunday’s Kill the Bill protest

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

Justice nowhere: Introducing Bristol Copwatch

A brick wall in Bristol. On the wall is some graffiti rendered in black spray paint: "In the US, in the UK, the police are racist everywhere: George Floyd RIP. Mark Duggan. Trevor Smith. Mike Brown"

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.

Cops shut down Westminster protest for Mohamud Hassan

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

Legal News Digest: Nov-Dec 2020

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

Lockdown 2: Are protests legal?

I’ll keep this brief, as whatever I say here will no doubt be out of date within a week.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