Another demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon at the Home Office, Marsham Street, London - Friday 10th October 2008, 5pm

There will be another peaceful demonstration in support of Gary McKinnon, at the Home Office in Marsham Street, London, this coming Friday 10th October 2008 from 5pm

Will the new Ministers of State at the Home Office, who are expected to be Phil Woolas and Vernon Coaker, signal a different attitude towards Gary McKinnon's extradition to the USA case by the Home Office bureaucracy ?

Time:
5pm to 7pm Friday 10th October 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.

Public toilets:

There is a Westminster Council run public toilet quite close to the Home Office in Regency Place:-- turn right along Horseferry Road at the southern end of Marsham Street.

See Regency Place public toilet location map

Name: Regency Place SW1
Information: Urinal - Men only
Number: 32
Wheelchair Access: Yes
Type: PC
Gender: M
Opening Times: 24hrs
Baby: No
Disabled Access: No

Name: Regency Place
Information:
Number: 40
Wheelchair Access: Yes
Type: APC
Gender: Unisex
Opening Times: 24hrs
Baby: No
Disabled Access: Yes

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.

The Home Office is, inappropriately, just within the Designated Area around Parliament Square, so the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 sections 132 to 138 apply. The organisers have already applied for the necessary prior written permission,

Loudspeakers and loudhailers are banned, but, given the volume of the chanting at the previous demonstrations, these would probably be superfluous anyway.

The Police can impose arbitrary extra conditions, at the time of the demonstration, but, hopefully, if things go as per the previous demonstration on 2nd September, there should be no problems.

More hints and tips about going on a demonstration in central London:

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.

See: Home Secretary Jacqui Smith: "no legal restriction on photography in public places", but supports legal harassment of photographers

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.

  • Warm clothing and 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.