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| 22nd
April 1995
| Issue 19 SchNEWSCJA ARRESTOMETER THE LAND IS OURS - SHOCK!Protesters as set for mass trespass of land this sunday!Reclaim the land! That's right folks! This Sunday, St George's Day, the conscious masses of Britain will converge on a soon-to-be-very-well-known site in south-east England in a week-long occupation to take back what is rightfully ours. The roads programme, the persecution of travellers, gypsies and protestors, the destruction of our countryside by intensive farming, the abominable treatment of farm animals and the loss of public spaces in towns are not the causes of injustices but it's symptoms. All reflect one underlying problem: the exclusive ownership of land. Trespass is a concept almost unique to these shores. Whose land is it anyway? Today between 50% and 75% of Britain is owned by one percent of its people. The land is our common inheritance. From time immemorial until the 18th century every one of us had the right to wander its surface. Now we have the means to reclaim our birthright. It's our turn to set the agenda. GO FOR ITLaunch the Land Reform Campaign. Bring tools, ideas, camping gear, water containers, seeds, spades, musical instruments, drums, banners, paint, anything creative ... and we'll leave the land better than we found it! Meet at CoolTan, 372 Coldharbour Lane, Brixton, London at 10am for coaches or go to Fleet Service Station (M3 E/bound, between J4 & J5 at 12 noon) OR PHONE 0171 501 9253 AFTER 3pm SUNDAY FOR VENUE. Limited parking - use public transport if possible. See yer there!
NAUGHTY (BUT NICE) PROTESTERS DEFY POLICE!Protests against live animal exports continued at Brightlingsea despite threats by Essex police to nick people under the 1986 Public Order Act - for simply demonstrating! Hundreds of people were out on the streets this week despite being sent a letter from the assistant chief constable implicitly warning that they risked arrest and imprisonment for simply being there! On Tuesday 3 former members of Brightlingsea Against Live Export were arrested for obstruction of the highway. Under the Criminal Justice Act police are empowered to impose bail conditions without going to court first. Their bail conditions state that they are not allowed to take part in any active demonstrations against live exports in Brightlingsea. When the police were asked to clarify this they stated that even standing in a window or in your front garden with a banner would be actively demonstrating. One of those arrested lives near the port in Brightlingsea - even taking his child to school, past the demonstrations, could mean he ends up in prison for breaking his bail conditions. Section 11 of the Public Order Act requires organisers of a procession to notify police six days in advance. Failure to do so could result in a £1,000 fine. If police are notified, they can impose conditions. If these are breached, organisers could face a three month prison sentence. Those taking part in a demonstration where no notification is given are also committing a criminal offence. Conditions of the Public Order Act can only be imposed to deal with serious disruption to the life of the community. When 1,500 people (nearly 20% of the town) turn up to a public meeting in Brightlingsea to show their anger at the loss of the right to protest we've got to ask whose community is it that is being disrupted? Clearly Brightlingsea doesn't want live exports. UP YOURS NATIONAL TRUST!The National Trust last
week moved swiftly to evict travellers from land they recently bought
from Brighton Borough Council. Glynn Jones, countryside ranger for
the National Trust said he wanted a "reputation or being firm, fair
and very fast" with any travellers who set up site on NT land. Using
Bylaw 21, which is even more draconian than the CJA, police and
bailiffs arrived at 7 in the morning ("so as to not disrupt traffic")
with 3 tow-trucks to move the site, dumping two vehicles to the
side of the road - no longer a NT problem!
THUMBS UP FOR CAS GAS"You get immediate severe stinging of eyes, nose and throat, blindness then panic sets in. Your balance goes. It causes pain in the sensory receptors of the skin and in a confined space by nausea, vomiting and vertigo." CS Gas, a highly toxic battlefield immobilisation gas, banned by international agreement as a chemical warfare agent in January, has been given the go-ahead by Michael Howard for police trials and will be used as "a last resort" say the Home Office. Beth Stephens, a lawyer with the Centre for Constitutional Rights (a public interest law firm based in New York) says tests have documented at least 80 deaths caused by exposure to CS Gas. Sixteen police forces in England and Wales will carry out trials in the coming months. "Ultimately every bobby on the beat may carry them" said the influential quango Association of Chief Police Officers. Trials initially will include routine carrying of band-held CS aerosol canisters for 'self-defence'. On the continent the gas is the standard riot dispersal weapon. CS Gas (O-chlorobenzylidene malonitrite) was banned this year at the Chemical Weapons Convention signed in Paris by 131 nations yet fast - forward a year and Essex police could be using it against residents demonstrating at Brightlingsea or at any other major public order flashpoint. The American government has agreed not to use CS Gas against Iraqi (or any other) enemy soldiers. Amnesty International calls CS "particularly dangerous when used in massive quantities in heavily built up or populous areas." The Home Office claims "it has been thoroughly tested and scientist have found that it doesn't present a serious risk to health" yet Alistair Hay, a world authority on the effects of chemical weapons, states, somewhat plainly: "There is not as much research on CS Gas as there ought to be". CS Gas will join the growing armoury of British police. Heckler and Koch MM sub-machine carbines, Smith & Wesson .38 revolvers, ballistic and stab resistant vast and extendible side-handled baton. PARTY POOPEDLoughborough police could be the first force in the country to use Section 63 (2) of the CJA which bans unlicensed Raves. Police, alerted that a large marquee had been erected, stopped a sound system from being installed and later turned away several hundred people who only wanted to dance. Leicester Advance Party commented "After spending six months targeting hunt sabs, the police obviously now feel confident enough to attack 'ravers' with the new legislation." DOLE RAMPAGESchNEWS reported last week a leaked DoE memo preparing Job Centre staff for an upsurge in violence due to cuts with the impending Job Seeker's Allowance. This week staff at Rotherhithe job centre were forced to run for their lives after a man with a grudge rampaged through offices brandishing a two-foot spiked medieval battle-axe. He yelled: "I fucking signed on this morning, give me my fucking money" before smashing up £5,000 worth of computer equipment demanding his Giro. The centre was evacuated and all exits sealed off as police marksmen and Territorial Support Group were put on high alert. He was charged with affray, criminal damage and attempted GBH on a police officer.. SchNEWS IN BRIEFHigh Court judges are taking a crash-course on the CJA on Tuesday delaying proceedings nationwide - oh well, it's only been law six months .... *** TAKING THE MIKE - Acting illegally is not a criminal matter according to Michael Howard. The Home Secretary was collared by Cheshire Freedom Networker & BR man Andy Waller and asked to explain his position now that the House of Lords has ruled he acted illegally over criminal compensation. Mr Howard: "I don't wish to comment on that, frankly it is not a criminal matter...." *** "No Comment - the Defendants guide to Arrest" updated for the CJA send sae to London ABC, 121 Railton Rd, London SE24 ... *** Police in Gwent used a helicopter to chase four teenagers suspected of stealing a 69p meat pasty from a shop in Newport. Three were arrested as they tried to hide in a field. The fourth escaped. Superintendent Jeff Rodway defended the £600-an-hour operation: "It wouldn't have mattered if they had stolen a Polo mint" ?! ... *** US Black journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal, a political prisoner on death-row in Pennsylvania will be dead in two weeks. Help! No room for detail, call PDC for info: 0171 485 1396. Fax governor Tom Ridge: 00 1 717 783 1396 *** Six of 73 Greenpeace Nuclear protestors who raided Sellafield over Easter may be charged. Five were tucked after hiding overnight .... *** Lewes ReACTion squatted community centre The Gift Horse faces eviction any day but still running .... *** MOTORWAYS - Alan Stewart MP has been charged with "breach of the peace" over the No M77 Pickaxe incident. Wot, justice?.... *** No M65 Sunny Stanworth Valley Tree Village appeal on Wednesday - eviction looks like May Day! May Day! There's now over 4km of aerial walkways - reach for the skies! 0161 861 7895/camp mobile 0585 164 311 ... *** The Goldman Award, the world's top environment award, has been won by Twyford protestor Emma Must. International recognition of the UK anti-roads movement and $7800 back into the campaign. Nice One. *** 'Criminal Element' cartoons of peaceful sedition by Kate Evans is now available. £1.80 Inc. p + p from the Justice? PO Box - thank you very much.
Party and ProtestSAT 22nd Liberty CJA Legal Briefing in Norwich 0171 403 3888 MON 24th Wimpey AGM QEII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, London, 12 noon. Contact Road Alert! 01635 521770 TUE 25th -30th Jigsaw non-violence project training for activists - a five day series of workshops for activists interested in becoming trainers, organising groups, preparing for actions and exploring issues around non-violence FRI 28th Travellers in court at Fort William, Scotland under Section 61 of the CJA. Support needed! APR 28-MAY 1 Shut Sellafield! Peace camp, vigil, party and direct action. Contact 0706 371387 SAT 29th Leyline beacon light-up May hill, Ross-on-Wye, Herefordshire SAT 29th Walk route of proposed Wells relief road. 01749 880639 SAT 29th Live Exports - Shoreham and Beyond. University of Sussex 10.30am 01273 720401 SAT 29 Demo @ Campsfield gates to demand release of all immigrant detainees. Contact: Campaign Against Campsfield 0865 724452 SUN 30th Beltane Fire Festival, Calton Hill, Edinburgh SUN 30th Quercus tribe Beltane gathering at anti-A30 camp at Fairmile 01385 278 157 MAY 6th Congress of the Networks. Gathering @ Exodus Collective Sharing information about Agenda 21 @ 1pm 01582 508936 INSIDE SchNEWSBarbara Trentholm, 43, is the first protestor to be imprisoned since live export demonstrations began - for breaking bail conditions at Shoreham. Speaking from jail she said: "I am very angry. Nobody is going to take my democratic rights away. I am going to carry on protesting, they won't stop me:" The Public Order Act has been used against 2500 protestors at Shoreham to take them out of action by imposing stringent bail conditions. Barbara Trentholm RL1006 HMP Holloway, 1X Parkhurst Rd, London. Jim Chambers, on remand for alleged damage to a road construction site: PV2504, HMP Pentonville Prison, Caledonian Road, London, N7 John Livingstone, arrested at the No M77 Pollok Free State in Glasgow is still inside on remand HMP Greenock, Greenock, Glasgow. and Finally"The main problem [with police at demonstrations] is the [use of the] Public Order Manual of Tactical operations and Related Matters. This has been issued by the Association of Chief Police Officers, a body with no legal standing but with considerable influence. This manual has never been made public, and has never been discussed in parliament or reviewed by the courts. But from evidence in court cases, we know that the manual gives guidance on the use of violent 'pre-emptive' police action, perhaps in the deployment of 'snatch squads', and also on the use of mounted police officers to scatter the crowd and cause fear." - 'Peaceful Protest', Liberty.
To subscribe to SchNEWS send stamps/donations (payable to Justice?) SchNEWS c/o on-the-fiddle PO Box 2600 East Sussex. Tel: (01273) 685913. Or pick one up @ Peace Centre, Gardener St, Brighton and around town Justice? meet every wednesday 7pm @ (71) Grand Parade squat e-mail: Justice?@intermedia.co.uk Strictly @nticopyright - contribute . photocopy. distribute .Nice SchNEWsletter Portsmouth!
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