There will be a peaceful demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon, at the Home Office in Marsham Street, London, this coming Tuesday 2nd September 2008, at 4pm.
Time:
4pm, Tuesday 2nd September 2008
Location:
Home Office main entrance, Peel Building (between the defensive / ornamental moats ponds) , Marsham Street, Westminster, London - see this location map
Nearest Tube stations:
Westminster or St. James Park - see the Transport for London website for journey planning details.
Buses:
London Bus Route 88 Clapham Common - Vauxhall - Westminster - Oxford Circus - Camden Town, stops directly outside the Home Office main entrance in Marsham Street, supposedly every 7 or 8 minutes.
Contact details:
email us here at info@Freegary.org.uk. If you are IT security conscious, and technically capable, then you can make use of our PGP Public encryption key.
We will pass on your messages to the demonstration organisers, or try to answer your queries ourselves.
Serious Organised Crime Act 2005 section 132 - 138 Designated Area
Many people in the UK and the rest of the world might be surprised at the extent of the restrictions on the fundamental human rights of free speech, freedom of assembly and freedom to protest politically, which have been imposed in an excessively large Designated Area around the Houses of Parliament in central London.
The Home Office in Marsham Street is, sneakily, just within this Designated Area around Parliament Square, covered by sections 132 to 138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005.
This controversial legislation, may well be repealed, sometime next year, but it is still the law right now:
Even if a protest or demonstration consists of just one person, you are meant to notify the Metropolitan Police either 6 days or 24 hours beforehand (stupid and contradictory, but that is the law).
Many people have been arrested and convicted for holding peaceful demonstrations without such Notification.
The Metropolitan Police have a somewhat misleading web page, with a so called Form 3175a to download, available as either an Adobe .pdf or as a Microsoft Word .doc file.
What they imply is that you have to use this standard form (based on one used also for major events involving thousands of people), which demands far more information than the law requires, and which will be retained for at least 7 years, and that you should hand it in to the Charing Cross Police station.
However, the SOCPA law only requires that you Notify the
Metropolitan Police in writing (email or fax is not allowed for the official Notification, but can be used for subsequent correspondence) either by using registered postal mail, or by handing in your Notification at any Police Station within the Metropolitan Police area.
"133 Notice of demonstrations in designated area
(1) A person seeking authorisation for a demonstration in the
designated area must give written notice to that effect to the
Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (referred to in this
section and section 134 as "the Commissioner").(2) The notice must be given--
(a) if reasonably practicable, not less than 6 clear days before
the day on which the demonstration is to start, or(b) if that is not reasonably practicable, then as soon as it is,
and in any event not less than 24 hours before the time the
demonstration is to start.(3) The notice must be given--
(a) if the demonstration is to be carried on by more than one
person, by any of the persons organising it,(b) if it is to be carried on by a person by himself, by that
person.(4) The notice must state--
(a) the date and time when the demonstration is to start,
(b) the place where it is to be carried on,
(c) how long it is to last,
(d) whether it is to be carried on by a person by himself or not,
(e) the name and address of the person giving the notice.
(5) A notice under this section must be given by--
(a) delivering it to a police station in the metropolitan police
district, or(b) sending it by post by recorded delivery to such a police
station.(6) Section 7 of the Interpretation Act 1978 (c. 30) (under which
service of a document is deemed to have been effected at the time
it would be delivered in the ordinary course of post) does not
apply to a notice under this section. "
Only one Notification is needed to cover the whole demonstration, but the Police also try to force you to put in a separate Notification for each time and date of every demonstration you
hold.
Even if you do this, they will probably still try to get you to fill in their standard form.
Technically this law applies not just to the streets and pavements within the Designated Area, but also to any public access area.
This includes the sunken courtyard between the moats / ponds in front of the main Home Office building entrance (Peel building).
The advantage of protesting there is that Home Office and Ministry of Justice officials will have to pass by , but you will not be "obstructing the pavement or highway", for which the Police (or ill trained Police Community Support Officers PCSOs) may try to harass
you, or detain or arrest you.
Photography
Amateur and even professional press photographers are all too frequently illegally harassed by jobsworth public officials and security guards, partly as a result of the Home Office's "climate of fear" anti-terrorism propaganda.
There are no laws which prevent you taking photos at the demonstration (ideally, if it is to have any effect, the mainstream media should be present), and the Home Office is not anything special as a building,
The Home Office is not a Protected Site (formerly called Designated Sites) as per SOCPA section 128 which makes simply crossing the boundary of the site (provided that it is signposted) into an offence of criminal trespass i.e. like the nearby Houses of Parliament, Portcullis House (MPs offices) , Downing Street and the
Cabinet Office, Ministry of Defence and the MI5 Security Service building.
The Home Office buildings in Marsham Street are not even owned by the Government any more, they are leased back from Ann Gate Property plc, under a Private Finance Initiative scheme.
No PCSO or private security guard has any power to seize your camera or mobile camera phone.
Even if you are arrested, the Police constables (not PCSOs or private security guards who have no powers of arrest) have no power to delete digital photos etc. even if they have seized your camera or mobile phone, since that would be tampering with evidence.
Conversely, there are no laws to prevent the Police or security guards from taking photos or video of you, either.
Terrorism Stop and Search harassment
All of London within the M25 orbital motorway appears to be an area where Police constables in uniform (and Police Community Support Officers in uniform, but only under the direct supervision of a Police Constable, not on their own), can conduct Terrorism Act 2000 section 44 stops and searches, without reasonable suspicion.
They can stop you and search you, supposedly for weapons or explosives or anything that might be used for terrorism (i.e. just about anything). Despite tens of thousands of such stops and searches, they have never caught a real terrorist as a result. Unless it is a proper armed police checkpoint, then what exactly an unarmed PCSO is expected to do if they do find any weapons or explosives, except panic, is unclear.
If you are stopped and searched under normal Police powers, where there is some "reasonable suspicion", then you do have to give your name and address. If you refuse to do so on the street, then you will be dragged back to a Police station for fingerprint etc. checks on your identity
If you are stopped ad searched under Terrorism Act section 44, without reasonable
suspicion, then you do not have to give your name and address.
You have to be given a Stop and Search form, stating where, when, and by whom you have been stopped, and under what law. However, if you do not demand one, then you will not necessarily be given such a form.
What the Police and PCSOs often try to do, during such searches, is to copy, or at least rifle through, any wallet or notebook or mobile phone address books which you might have on your person , so do not bring private stuff with you on such a demonstration.
What to bring on a demonstration
- Several friends and supporters.
- Press and Broadcast journalists and reporters.
- Posters, banners, leaflets, petitions etc. - N.B the Metropolitan Police can arbitrarily impose restrictions on these beforehand, and they can then arbitrarily change those restrictions at any time during a demonstration within the SOCPA Designated Area
- If you smoke, something to collect and extinguish your cigarette butts - Westminster Council bylaws and Government Anti-social behaviour laws and policies, could allow various public officials to slap you with a £60 Fixed Penalty Notice for littering if you throw you cigarette butt onto the ground.
- Something (non-alcoholic) to drink and eat etc.
- An umbrella (summer is over).
- Cameras and video recorders
- Spare batteries and USB memory devices for digital cameras and mobile phone cameras.
- Contact details of firms of legal solicitors who deal with human rights issues and arrests at demonstrations e.g. Bindmans - telephone: 020 7833 4433 or Kaim Todner - telephone: 020 7353 6660 (Gary McKinnon's solicitors)
What NOT to bring to a demonstration
- Alcohol - even Police Community Support Officers now have powers to confiscate alcohol within a Dispersal Zone. All of the London boroughs of Westminster and Camden are now such Dispersal Zones.
Being seen to be drinking alcohol on Transport for London Tubes or Buses is also now banned.
- Illegal drugs - obviously.
- Personal address and contact books or Mobile Phones or Personal Digital Assistants containing contact names, addresses, email, phone etc. details - jobsworth PCSOs and Police constables often attempt to rifle through these, during "stops and searches", even though they often have no proper legal power to do so.
If you must bring your normal mobile phone with you, then you should set a security PIN code, for both for the power on and keyboard locks, which might prevent arbitrary snooping, but which will not, of course, prevent forensic examination of the phone if you are arrested. - Loudhailers - these are banned in the SOCPA Designated Area under SOCPA section 137 - see above.
Jon Sorensen
Ah, yes. Peaceful protest in England. Two years ago, one Saturday afternoon in the City of Chester. Amongst the shoppers, quietly sitting at a table they had set up were maybe half a dozen members of the "Anti-Vivisection League". No fuss, handing out leaflets. A collection bucket. Out of nowhere, the police arrive. We counted maybe a dozen officers. At least three of them with video cameras, filming from the sidelines. Protesters surrounded, leaflets confiscated along with the collection bucket. Maybe fifty ordinary people, all ages, all backgrounds, standing around watching all this getting angrier because they thought the whole thing heavy-handed and ludicrous. This was against the background of the "Foot-and-Mouth" outbreak, where government reps of all stripes were given leave to march into farmhouses and demand farmers hand over even their uninfected animals for slaughter or face prosecution. Millions of animals killed brutally and the countryside brought to a halt and out-of-bounds for 9 months. This for a disease which does'nt even kill the animals and can be prevented by inoculation. This was a full-on Government panic. They were dealing with "Foot-and-Mouth". Really? I am no conspiracy theorist and have no major blind axe to grind, really. But people do have a right to answers, otherwise how does any sense of society work without them? What can we build on? Lies and evasions? This is the core issue where Gary is concerned. He's a seeker.
Louise
I wish the best of luck to everyone who attends this protest in support of Gary McKinnon.
I hope that it gets the result's desired and keeps Gary away from the clutches of the US government.
Colin Revell
Fron Autism Risk yahoo group....I think Brian is right...
Someone should take it upon themselves to AT LEAST drop a letter through Jacqui Smith's door...
A vigil outside (not unlike an execution watch) would be even better.
I can't do a thing from Ireland, but there must be enough concerned Aspies in the vicinity of London or environs who could put in a few hours outside the Home Office?
Larry...isn't her constituency on your doorstep?
By letter : The Rt Hon Jacqui Smith MP
House of Commons, Westminster, London, SW1A 0AA
By Telephone: 01527 523355
By E mail --> smithjj@parliament.uk
At one of my surgeries.The first Friday in each month.
4.30 - Feckenham Village Hall: 5.30 - Inkberrow Parish Education Centre
6.15 - Cookhill Village Hall: 7.00 till 8.00 - Redditch Town Hall
The third Saturday in each month10.00 - 12.30 - Redditch Town Hall
No appointment necessary but it may help avoid a wait if you call 01527 523355 to reserve a place.
matthew glyndwr
Jacqui Smith resign! Your an evil corrupt parasite who should not be associated with a human being. If this protest fails we will expose all your skeletons in your closet. New World Order is going down baby xx
Elle Hart, Elec.Eng.Tech.
Gary,
Protests do very little to create change. Most often are actually used by the opposing forces as an intelligence gathering opportunity. Like names and addresses of supporters as well as a demographic representation of supprters. Like level of news media interest, high profile companies involved, the level of education professional persons and an overal assessment of financial backing.
Quite often as well the protesters are arrested and in worse case senarios - even without offending a law in any way. I do not suggest that Gary be present at this protest. It may be used as a showcase for his incaceration and resulting extradition by attending US officials.
I offer you this advice and hope that you consider my advice. I had been a long time high profile activist in Canada and have had a lot of experience with the system. My activism centred around human rights issues and lasted approximately 17 years. At the end realizing that little to no progress had been made in many critical areas and that most importantly by observation - petitions and protests DO NOT WORK. The only process that actually had any effect on the system was boycotts and civil disobedience.
My activism career has come to a halt in the last few years after having become the target of government and corporations. I have had a hellist nitemare of problems and have even been beaten by police with no reprive available (They edited out the video footage at the RCMP dispatch - coincidentaly one week after refusal to work for the US Cyber Force). I have been poisoned on another occassion. So since, in a sense, I have gone underground with my efforts to promote ideals.
You are dealing with people who CAN break the rules and DO break the rules regularely because THEY ARE the rules. Get it right out of your head that there is any actual justice or order on this planet. That is an illusion to sooth the average citizen. Petroleum corporations are the government and they have no ethics or limmitations.
Welcome to the 21 Century!
We are at war with THEM - there is no terrorists!
Basically anyone who opposess or causes problems with the system is the enemy.
In conclusion - the only way for you to win this is to hit them where they will hurt. Organize peacful boycotts of petroleum. Hit the machine in the language of the machine $ Money $. And understand that you are dealing with dangerous and powerful people that do not need to follow the law and that they are capable cheating and causing malice. You need to think like them to protect yourself. The final staqe after that is civil disobediance - which used in a peaceful sense - means placing the owness upon them to legally justify their actions. EXAMPLE: Not being available ( held up in a protected location / not able to be located ) which forces them to proceed with legal writs or warrants of search, ect that must be approved before a judge and therefore can be challenged by lawyers ).
Love and Power,
Elle Hart, Elec.Eng.Tech.
J
Spot on Elle. That's how the Sufragettes won the vote for women.
That's how child Labour ended.
That's how Gandi achieved the end of British rule in India, by peaceful civil disobedience.
In the UK petrol has been boycotted on certain days and only then do they begin to take peoples concerns seriously.
The anti war movement in the UK was Huge but no one in government took a blind bit of notice.
Our government are still in Iraq and still warmongering.
J
I meant to add, that I believe a Demonstration can work if the Placards say the right things and include boycot....this or that, (something they worry about us boycotting)
Or possibly if they worry that they'll be thrown out of office.
The Vietnam War stopped when people tore up their Draft cards and when the American public saw a little naked girl on TV covered in nepalm burns and they realized that their government was responsible.
It all comes down to opening peoples eyes I guess.
Joe
I wonder what are the Conservatives saying about all this? Do they care? Has anyone approached a Conservative MP or a shadow minister?
Jon Sorensen
Gamely trying to organise the logistics of being there on Tuesday. It's 50:50 at best at the moment. By some stroke if I can make the journey and time, and I can't promise that at this stage, can anyone volunteer to put me up for the night in London? I can be contacted through www.jonsorensen.co.uk via the "Contact" page. Stay Sunny! If it does'nt pan out, I'll be there in full spirit anyway.
Benjamin C
Hi
I sent an email to the Home Office on 28 August stating my concerns about the extradition of Gary to the USA.
My major concern is his recent diagnosis of Asperger syndrome. If he were to receive a prison sentence after the trial, it would be better if he could serve his sentence in the UK, where he would be near to his family.
I sent the email to the public enquiries email address at the Home Offie, and will now send the same email directly to Jacqui Smith at the link provided by one of the above posters.
I hope the UK allow Gary to be tried in the UK rather than the USA. It would seem like the most humane option in light of Gary's mental condition. A strong country balances justice with compassion.
I hope the demonstration goes well.
Ben
lucy
Thanks Ben x
Jon Sorensen
Gary, apologies since I can't make the protest tomorrow in London. It strikes me that it might be about time to introduce a spritual element, more my area, in terms of wishing you well, away from all the political and legal barracking, important as these may be in the "real world", which caused this fiasco in the first place. I have posted another free download of a track called "The Gathering" to accompany the other two in support of you. This is a great favourite of a friend of mine who was a Producer on "Blade Runner" and who called the music "Soothing and profound. Makes one feel at one with the universe". There are some bagpipes in there too by the way, for us Celts. These 3 free downloads in support of you can be accessed by simply clicking on my name above this Comment.
My connection with you and your case really continues to stem from being averse to "seekers" of answers being victimised and the human imagination being corralled. And there are now more questions than ever. Hope the Demo goes well. Stay centred. Good luck, Brother.
Ben F
So has anyone made a notification to the police for the demo?
editorial@spiderednews.com
FYI, 2nd September protest info posted on http://www.SpideredNews.com
lucy
Ben
Everything has been taken care of thanks, we just need the people to come and shout from the roof tops!
Wil
Yes, Gary's partner Lucy has.
Many Thanks
S
Good Luck Gary,
Whilst none of us would deny that an act has taken place. I don't think any British person would like to see another removed from contact with their own family for any reason. I am no academic by any means but we all have parents and the majority of us have children.
British poeple should be tried in Briton under British laws!
All the best
S
Jon Sorensen
Briefly, I wanted to tell you that George Galloway has responded by featuring tomorrow's demonstration on his own Website, which is wonderful of him. (The SpideredNews link I see is listed above in a Comment). Also I wanted to thank Rachel in London again for offering to put me up in the City had I been able to travel down this time to attend the Demo myself. So very sorry I can't be there but I continue to work on all possible other fronts to support you, Gary. As Wallace said to The Bruce in "Braveheart", "You have real strength, I see it in you". Keep that strength. You are not alone, Brother.
Henry b d
I am astounded that Gary McKinnon could be jailed in the USA or anywhere else for hacking into US military computer systems. On the contrary he should be praised and rewarded for exposing security weaknesses in these systems which could have been exploited by any rogue state to the detriment of the free world.
The free world is in debt to Gary McKinnon. Any punishment whatsoever would be a travesty of justice.
Paul Shishis
Keep a eye in the sky-we need some outside help ! What will be next ****Not allowed to think of higher IN TELL IGENCES..Condemning the curious is a UNIVERSAL CRIME.
Craig Smith
I live right up in the Midlands and wouldn't be able to travel down to the London to physically protest. However I fully support the order to squash extradation for Gary. I felt strongly that civil liberties (even of a suspected criminal) were being breached. Even if guilty, Gary has rights, rights as a British citizen to face trial in the country in which he committed the crime in. I wrote to the PM last week concerning this very issue, I may get a response, I may not. However I couldn't stay silent when fellow Britons are treated like this.
Orakio
I'll go if not for any other purpose than to socialise.
Monica Mehers
Just listened to radio 4 afternoon play regarding Gary. He should be lauded for what he has uncovered. If the US cannot keep their house in order - ie, if they were/are allowing people to hack then they are the ones who should be in court, NOT Gary.
Gary, I hope all turns our well for you, there is no way you deserve this treatment, you should not be jaied anywhere, not here nor the US, they should be using your skills!!
Johanna
But the people must be prepared to accept everything, if we ask what Couverment are douing behinde us, then we will be punished.
sorry my english.
Im hopefully wish, that it will come ok for you.
kinde regards
Pauline
I too have just listened to the radio 4 play. This was a good way of getting the information out as I had no idea of what he had uncovered until today. If they know about anti-gravity then it must be the oil lobby who is desperate to silence Gary. Yes, it is true that they are the real leaders in this world (someone mentioned it above)- and so Gary will need all the support he can get from everyone everywhere!
M
I'm ashamed to admit that I knew nothing about Gary and his terrible plight until I listened to the Afternoon Play on Radio 4 today.
This all seems to be a dreadful injustice to happen to Gary and untimately maybe to all of us.
I'm sorry I cannot be present at the protest but I will be there in spirit. I really hope someone sits up and takes notice.
Good luck to you all and especially Gary. Please pass on my best wishes to him if you can and I will tell everybody I know about his story.
In peace and friendship, M.
Jonathan Colohan
Just want to show my support for Gary. I've followed his story for some time now and really did think that the human-rights courts would have found in your favor.
My best wishes are with you and your family keep up the good fight.
Hope the protest when well today.
Warm Regards.. Jon Colohan - Dublin
planetzorg
Click on planetzorg link if you are intersted in the cover-up of extra-terrestials.
Ian McCabe
Hi Gary,
I have been following your story for some time and have seen you interviewed. I fully support what you did and were trying to achieve. There is technology that is being suppressed and they will not be able to hide this fact forever. People are waking up. I wrote an email to Jacqui Smith the other day requesting she intervene and halt the extradition: no reply as yet.
My thoughts are with you and my wish that justice will prevail in the end.
All the best, Ian McCabe - Kent
Jon Sorensen
Nothing reported on the national news media as yet that I have seen regarding the Demo today but it was excellent that it was synched up with today's re-broadcast of the BBC Radio 4 Play and I can tell you that downloads of the music tracks in support of Gary have been very healthy which can only mean more people finding these pages from the download Site. But what news of the Demo? Anyone?
non anonymous
First time i have knowed about Gary was on the internet couple months before, on one of the (german) pc magazin website (i purchase from), in the news category. I didnt have seen before anything about these nasa story and or free energy.
I hope the good hearts will take place and give the usa a kick in the ass!
My wishes for you Gary.
PEACE!
dhiren
Gary McKinnon needs YOU! Please checkout the links and write to Jacqui Smith asking her to stop the extradition.
You can send an email FAO Jacqui Smith : public.enquiries@ homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
or a letter to:
Home Secretary
Rt Hon. Jacqui Smith MP
c/o Direct Communications Unit
Home Office
2 Marsham Street
London SW1P 4DF
heres an example of what you could send her:
Jaqui smith,
Please halt the extradition of Gary Mckinnon to the united states.
Gary is a British Citizen who deserves a fair, unbiased trial for crimes allegedly commited on UK soil. He has been vilified and accused of acts of terrorism in the US - he will not get justice there.
The UK-USA 2004 extradition treaty was introduced AFTER his initial arrest by British Police, requires the US government to produce no evidence against him, and is non-reciprocal.
I beleive that Gary has recently been diagnosed with Aspergers, doesnt this class him as a vulnerable adult? would you be willing the extradition of a VULNERABLE adult?
DO NOT BE A WOMAN WHO ALLOWS SUCH A DANGEROUS LEGAL PRECEDENT TO BE SET. ACT NOW TO ENSURE GARY MCKINNON RECEIVES TRUE JUSTICE IN A UK COURT.
Phil Hobden
I have sent teh email and will try and rally trrops online also.
This kind of piss take MUST STOP NOW our goverment needs to act.
Phil Hobden
Jan Hicks
I am absolutely appalled at the total lack of justice available to Gary McKinnon, in this his home country.I feel sickened and ashamed of ever having voted Labour. The cynical way in which this man's rights have been ignored and the total lack of protection afforded to him by this government and your office in particular is completely disgusting. The spineless way in which Tony Blair gave away our rights to avoid extradition for unproven and supposed crimes committed in this country,with no compensating agreement from the American government will cause every patriotic and decent person who voted for your government the deepest shame.
non anonymous
I have send a mail too.
Harold Norcross
It may be debateable whether Bevan ( accused of a similar hacking 'offence' some time ago but not extradited and now working for this country's benfit) or McKinnon is the most talented UK computer hacker . I suppose either to indicate the ignorance of the Home Office / CPS or as a sop to the USA , it would show that we are compliant with anything the Steas demand and the complete lack of protection for the citizens of our country.
Some sixty years ago I swore allegiance to the Sovereign and fought for the freedom of our country ,I resent politicians giving away the freedom for which I put my life on the line