Anti War Activist fined for illegal demo
international |
anti-war / imperialism |
other press 
Wednesday April 12, 2006 16:48
by pat c
Such is the logic of Blairs Britain: an anti war protester went to the Cenotaph and read out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq. For this he was arrested, charged with holding an illegal demonstration and now has been convicted and fined. Theres an extract below and you can read the full story at the link.
pat
A protester has been fined £350 for reading out the names of soldiers killed in Iraq at the Cenotaph. Milan Rai, 40, from Hastings, East Sussex, was arrested inside the "exclusion zone" in Westminster, where protests now need police permission.
Mr Rai argued that the new law contravened Human Rights legislation. But a judge said his was not a spontaneous protest, but an organised event for which he had deliberately failed to get permission on principle.
Comments (1 of 1)
Jump To Comment: 1Heres a piece from the Guardian. Full story at the link.
"Rai, who is tonight launching a book on the July 7 bombings and Islam, said he would refuse to pay the fine. Rai had refused to fill out a form detailing his financial situation, and responded to the penalty by telling the court: "I'm unable to comply with any financial penalty." He was given 28 days to pay.
After the hearing Rai said he would not "willingly" pay the fine. "So far they haven't got anything off me. I will look around to see whether I own anything worth £500."
He said he was consulting with civil rights group Liberty, which represented him during the case. He planned to ask the high court to rule that the SOCPA was incompatible with articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights - which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom of assembly."
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