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Thursday, December 08, 2005

First conviction for protesting within 1km of parliament

Police have made the first successful prosecution of a citizen for protesting within 1km of the British parliament.

The draconian law is one of a set of measures designed to curtail human rights and civil liberties brought in under the vague pretence that they will prevent terrorism. The rights and liberties being abused include the right to assembly, the right to protest, the right to free speech and the right to trial by jury.

The woman, a 25 year old peace protester, was arrested for standing outside Downing Street reading out the names of British soldiers killed in Iraq since the start of the war on the man that embarrassed George Bush senior terror.

She received a conditional discharge, was ordered to pay £100 costs and now has a criminal record.

There have been heated exchanges in the British Parliament over the whole sorry affair. David Heath, a Lib Dem MP, said the law "was sold to us on the basis that it was to prevent terrorist acts against this House and has now been used to convict a young lady, Maya Evans, for reading out a list of British soldiers killed in action in Iraq by the Cenotaph."