Glasgow victory
Readers of FRFI will remember the arrest of a Glasgow Hunger Strike Action Committee (GHSAC) supporter at a CND rally in Glasgow last year (FRF1 11). Hundreds of CND supporters gathered to protest at this unjust arrest. The police then arrested a young CND supporter.
As a result of a successful public campaign, the GHSAC supporter had the charges against her dropped. However the Glasgow loyalist police took their revenge and pursued a charge of Breach of the Peace against the CND supporter.
His case came up in Glasgow Sheriff Court on Friday 23 April. Sergeants Kane and Halliday could not even corroborate each other’s lies and contradicted each other on all the major points in the trial. The police lies were so blatant that the Sheriff was forced to find the CND supporters not guilty!
Strathclyde Regional Council backs down
Labour controlled Strathclyde Regional Council (SRC) who were operating a policy of political censorship by refusing the hire of their property for meetings on Ireland have now backed down. The Glasgow Irish Freedom Action Committee (GIFAC) have mounted a public campaign against this censorship and the SRC cover up – FRFI 18. The campaign (which was supported by many people, including Ron Brown MP, Hugh Brown MP and Councillor Donald Masterson) proves that the struggle against censorship can be won if it is organised.
May Day Victory!
Mike Duffield was found not guilty of a breach of the peace at Glasgow District Court on 27 April. The full charge was breach of the peace by ‘shouting and swearing through a megaphone’. Mike was arrested when police, acting on the advice of Loyalists, pulled down a Glasgow Hunger Strike Action Committee banner on last year’s May Day march.
The Sheriff said that it was not a crime to shout ‘Victory to the Hunger Strikers’. This victory shows the value of an effective campaign and a properly argued defence case. A comrade from the Labour Party provided a sound back-up to the defence.
STOP PRESS
Glasgow Irish Freedom Action Committee defended its right to join the May Day March. Police seized their banner saying ‘The organisers have banned you’. GIFAC retrieved it and forced the organisers to concede that GIFAC could march. The police withdrew defeated
FRFI 19 May 1982
