Picnicking protester arrested outside parliamentMatthew Tempest, political correspondent
Tuesday August 30, 2005
A free speech activist arrested after a weekend "tea party" on Parliament Square has vowed to continue the campaign against new laws which restrict the right to protest outside the House of Commons.
Mark Barrett was arrested on Sunday after a midday picnic on the grass opposite Big Ben, aimed at demonstrating the severity of the clampdown on unauthorised protests.Today he said the Sunday tea parties - which he claims are not demonstrations, but "Mad Hatter's Tea Party meets Speaker's Corner" and therefore are not subject to the new law - would continue.
Mr Barrett, who has not been charged with an offence, said: "There will be another one next Sunday, with more costumes, perhaps even with me dressed up as a prisoner, and Keystone Cops outfits. "The point is, nobody's doing anything violent or illegal, so the right to protest should not be banned."Around a dozen activists turned up to last Sunday's picnic, the third since the new law came into force.
After four hours on the square, Mr Barrett was arrested and taken to a police station. He will hear next month if he is to be charged.
A new law, outlawing protests within one kilometre of parliament that do not have advance permission from the Metropolitan police, came into force at the start of August.
It also bans loudhailers, and permanent encampments, but - due to a drafting error - will not remove the four-year-old, one-man camp set up by anti-war protester Brian Haw, as the legislation is not retrospective.
There have been a total of 11 other arrests following two mass protests deliberately aimed at flouting the law.
Mr Barrett's tea parties are aimed at exploiting a loophole in the law, by not being demonstrations in name, and not protesting on any particular issue.
Instead, impromptu picnics are held on the green within Parliament Square, and allow a "People's Commons" debate among those attending. Last Sunday also saw a game of croquet on the grass.
For next week's outing, they are urging people to come dressed as suffragettes, convicts or the Keystone cops.
Before the most recent picnic, a Home Office spokeswoman said policing of the events would be an operational matter for the Met, but added: "It's possible, if it's small enough, that it would not be classified as a demonstration - especially if its not a marching or holding banners or placards."
Hold on a second "Home Office spokesperson", why have you not provided clear guidance for the Metropolitam Police and laid down exactly what constitutes a "demonstration" ?
According to the Home Office's Freedom of Information Act disclosure:
"Q8) What is the minimum duration of a protest or demonstration before it falls under the new regulations ?A8. There is no minimum duration to a demonstration before it falls under the new provisions.Q9) Will a short walk in and around the Parliament Square "Designated Area" entail getting prior permission from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police if you happen to be wearing a "political slogan" T-shirt or badge ?A9. The definition of a demonstration is ultimately a matter for the courts."
The MPs are back this week, so, please distribute widely and if you can - please come along. [This is an edited version of last week's Invitation]
12 Noon Every Sunday, Parliament Square, London
Defend the Right To Protest- Creative Commons/Picnic/Tea Party
Ladies and Gentlemen, Help Us to Reclaim the Commons!
Invitation: You are cordially invited to join us for our weekly People’s Commons Meeting/Mad Hatters Tea Party/Picnic-Protest on the Green at Parliament Square, Westminster. We meet every Sunday at 12 Noon. Help us to reclaim this symbolic space.
Background: Building on the sunny success of our previous meetings, initially held in response to New Labour’s attempt to criminalise the Right to Peacefully Demonstrate [without permission] in Westminster, we are now striving to reclaim and create an alternative Creative/People's Commons.
What to Bring/Wear/Theme: Bring whatever you think will help make the party a success, but especially bring yourselves.Particularly useful are food, drink, music, banner-making materials, games (cricket, frissbee, croquet etc) bubbles, flowers and new ideas for the future. it's a party, so depending on weather conditions, please dress up! Edwardian/Suffragette, Keystone Cops and Robbers Doing Hard [New] Labour, Clowns, 60s Revolutionaries, Children, Jedis (with or without light sabres). Or just come as you are.
What Happens/Featuring:
Local - The Creative/People’s Commons Meeting (towards a DIY, non-hierarchical participatory form of democracy) in which all those who wish to take part are invited to sit together and speaking their minds on whatever subject they feel moved to. One person Facilitates and another takes Minutes, and these roles rotate each week.
Global - Free The Tea: in which a group of revolutionaries walk down to the Thames and half way across the river throw tea bags (PG Tips, pyramid shaped) into the river in support of the proposed tax on international currency trade (Currency Transaction Tax or CTT) aimed at ring fencing billions of pounds each year for international development. This feature is a protest at our government’s (and the G8’s) neo-liberal attitude to Trade Justice. See early Day Motion 500 currently before the House of Commons for more on the CTT and www.tobintax.org.uk. No More Corporate Representation without International Taxation!
Spiritual - Prayer Vigil for Justice and Peace: a silent moment asking for help in the battle for a better world, for individuals of all faiths and/or none. Takes place at/around 4pm.
Art - Banner Making: we will continue to challenge the workability and justness of the new law by making banners. One idea recently suggested - let's do a full demo but with 100% Peace and Love Banners and see what the Met makes of that. Sounds like a great idea.
So please do tell your friends, spread the word and if you can come along and join us for more creative, beautiful, peaceful acts of defiance, and over time we will see what is possible. For more details, and links to images and reports from previous weeks, please see www1.atwiki.com/picnic (an easily editable web page in which everyone is invited to contribute ideas etc regarding the organisation and direction of the event), www.parliamentprotest.org.uk (a more general site that covers all aspects of the Right to Protest movement), www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/right-to-protest.shtml (Liberty website’s section on Right To Protest etc)
Hope to see you there! 12 Noon, on the Green, Parliament Square, Westminster, every Sunday, just behind Brian Haw’s banners. If we can keep going, every week, with your help the Creative Commons will go from strength to strength.
It's your parliament, and it's your Square, so if you can, please be there!
I had an idea a while ago for a different protest that never got of the ground and i think now might be a good time to use it...
The Party Commons Picnic highlights the blatent wrong doing of the govenment, by arresting pro actively peaceful people. So, lets make it difficult for them to enforce arrests selectively.
Heres the idea...On one side of the line we have the picnic protest (banners etc). On the other side we have a birthday party - no banners. We just sing 'happy birthday', say, to my 90 yr old grandmother who happens to be the kind of person that'd just love to visit the beautiful historic sites of parliament sq. Oooops, hang on. Thats illegal. Yes.. singing the happy birthday song is against the law (see www.singhappybirthday.com) Yep, No doubt about it, they would have to arrest us all.. for singing happy birthday to my gran.
So now all they have to do is work out which group of arrests would be more preposterous!!!!
Maybe its a dumb idea but I never got around to finishing this web site for real and i'd really like to see it used as this highlights yet another case of capitalist govenments putting laws and protection for the few rich and powerful before the freedoms of the many many many good people of this world... so anyone who can make use of it for can have it!!! Email me if yr interested.
Please keep talking,
MrBump