Anti-Racism Protest Defence Campaign (Newcastle) – public statement 21/02/21
The Anti-Racism Protest Defence Campaign was launched in June 2020 in response to a number of arrests of Black Lives Matter activists by Northumbria Police. Since then, it has rallied public support and brought pressure to bear on the police with a program of (Covid-secure) street events and online meetings. It has accompanied and supported those summoned to police interview and helped to coordinate a collective legal defence and case publicity. Northumbria Police has continued to employ the same tactics against the Defence Campaign as it used against Black Lives Matter activists in Summer 2020: where it has had notice of the campaign’s events, it has banned them on public order grounds; at other time the police have fallen back on the Anti-Social Behaviour Act to disperse campaign publicity events. And yet it has failed to deny the campaign a continued street presence – and, therefore, it has failed to isolate campaigners from the wider public. That has meant, not only has the Defence Campaign survived, but it has gone on to win important victories – the latest of which came in February at North Tyneside Magistrates’ Court when charges were dropped against an anti-racist activist who had been due to stand trial in March.
The Crown Prosecution Service conceded it could not sustain a public order case against the accused – begging the question: how does it intend to sustain such a case against any of the others arrested? The trial of one prominent anti-racist activist has been adjourned to late June – more than a year after he was arrested. Opposing police racism is not a crime and the immediate aim of the Defence Campaign is to ensure that all such outstanding charges are similarly dropped – or else to beat them in court. The campaign continues.
To find out how you can help the campaign, please contact: [email protected]
