FRFI 178 April / May 2004
As Israel increases its offensive against the Palestinian population of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, on the streets of Britain active solidarity with the Palestinian struggle faces increasing harassment by the British state.
On 4 March FRFI/Victory to the Intifada’s regular Thursday picket of Marble Arch Marks and Spencer in London, police attempted to intimidate demonstrators by taking photographs of all participants and trying to engage supporters in conversation to obtain intelligence. The police singled out an Arab regular on the picket who they surrounded and provoked, accompanied by cheers from the Zionist counter-demo. VTI demonstrators and supporters directed loud chanting against police harassment and racism and the individual was eventually allowed to return to the picket. We were again served with a notice under Section 14 of the Public Order Act (1986) with a dubious regulation attached claiming that we could not use our megaphone as this would cause disruption, threatening arrest if we did so. Legal advice revealed that such restrictions could not be enforced through Section 14; we continued.
Section 14 permits the police to impose conditions on a static demonstration that restricts its duration, location and number of participants. They do not have the power to add other restrictions. Under challenge, the Met have now told us that the Public Assembly and Anti-Social Behaviour Act 2003 has updated the Public Order Act, It came into force on 24 January 2004 and reduces the number of people who need to be present for Section 14 conditions to be implemented, from 20 to 2! Nonetheless it does not add extra conditions on to the 1986 Act, so the senior officer on the scene can still only impose restrictions of number, location and duration.
More intimidatory measures were attempted on 18 March. The police told the picket that we could not attach banners or placards to council property, nor to the barriers that enclose us because they are police property, and that if we used the megaphone or drums the police would confiscate them. The demonstration was loud and lively despite these restrictions; placards, banners and flags were held and suspended between two trees that evidently don’t belong to the council. A week later, and more restrictions: no table within the barriers, no selling of newspapers, no collecting of money. But they conceded our right to use a megaphone. We kept the table in place, we sold newspapers and we collected money. We do not intend to allow our right to protest to be removed by the racists of the Metropolitan Police.
In Manchester the weekly Saturday pickets of Marks and Spencer continue despite the continuing attacks from the Labour City Council. Two picketers are awaiting an appeal at the Crown Court after they were found guilty of ‘affixing placards to council property’ and ‘obstructing the highway’ (FRFI 177). Manchester VTI is holding regular meetings as part of the campaign to defend the picket and the democratic right to protest and plan to meet Lib-Dem Councillor for the City Centre, Peter Rothery, who has expressed sympathy with the campaign. The case of the Marks and Spencer pickets will be raised in an open council meeting on 31 March in the context of defending the right to protest in Manchester City Centre. VTI has support at this meeting from an animal rights group and individuals from Stop the War Coalition also victimised by council officials.
Another very successful picket of Marks and Spencer was held in Leicester at the beginning of March. For three hours the picket was busy with local people wanting to demonstrate their support for the Palestinian people and their opposition to the Zionist occupation, with many new people joining the protest. One elderly lady argued it was time to arm the Palestinians as the only way to stop the Zionist aggression and ethnic cleansing.
Durham VTI has continued its weekly pickets of M&S, culminating in the second ‘Silver St Intifada’ on 6 March, a lively day of street theatre and music, held together with members of Revolution Socialist Youth. Educational sessions on the history of Palestine have continued, developing the understanding of those involved in the campaign, whilst a well-attended night of Rebel Music raised some much-needed funds to support the campaign’s development. Monthly pickets of Marks and Spencer also continue in Glasgow and Dundee where FRFI is holding regular meetings to expose imperialist violence and plunder and explore the growing resistance movements across the world.
LONDON
Every Thursday: Picket of M&S
Oxford St (Marble Arch end) 6-8pm
Meeting on the Palestinian Intifada
Wednesday 19 May 7pm
Room H102, London School
of Economics, WC2
MIDLANDS
For further details contact
07949 256 477
MANCHESTER
Every Saturday: picket of M&S
Market St, Manchester City Centre
at 12 noon.
Contact: victory_intifada@ hotmail.com or 07816 547066
To contact Salford University FRFI Society,
e-mail: [email protected]
DURHAM
For information and venue details
Contact 07813 073846
Every Saturday: picket of M&S
Silver St, 11.30-2.30pm
GLASGOW
Pickets of Marks and Spencer
Saturday 18 May
All at M&S Sauchiehall Street
Glasgow between 12-2pm
FRFI public meetings
All meetings held at Woodside Halls, Glenfarg Street, Glasgow, just off Great Western Road near St Georges Cross Underground. All meetings start at 7.15pm
for latest dates
Contact us!
To contact FRFI in Scotland or to find
out more about our events and
activities
Call: 07779 785 529
Write to: Unit 111,
36 West George Street,
Glasgow, G2 1DA
Email: [email protected]
