UK : Police 'breached rights' of anti-war protesters

galway | anti-war / imperialism | other press Thursday December 14, 2006 18:50 by Dunlo - Cosantoiri Siochana

In "real time" : A frisbee and a bag of toy soldiers V Weapons of Mass Destruction

In today's UK Independent, Nigel Morris, Home Affairs Correspondent ,reports that Peace protesters and civil rights groups are celebrating an "enormous victory for free speech" after the House of Lords condemned the police for preventing a demonstration outside RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in March 2003 - an airbase used in the Iraq war.

A few miles away from the Airbase they were stopped by police who confiscated a Frisbee and a bag of toy soldiers during a two-hour search. Their coaches were then sealed and escorted in convoy, without even allowing lavatory stops, back to London.

Lord Bingham of Cornhill, giving the lead judgment, said the case raised "important questions on the right of the private citizen to demonstrate against government policy and the powers of the police to curtail exercise of that right". He also said the police action, designed to thwart a future breach of the peace, was "wholly disproportionate" under the European Convention on Human Rights.

Gloucestershire Police said that it was disappointed by the judgment and defended its actions. "Policing in scenarios such as those faced at Fairford is difficult and complex, with competing rights and responsibilities having to be assessed and acted upon in real time by operational commanders," it said.