The reports of yesterday's Bow Street Magistrates' Court trial of the 4 people facing charges under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 Section 132, for "demonstrating" without prior written permission within the Designated Area around Parliament Square have started to appear.
Compare and contrast the Metropolitan Police Sergeant's fears for the safety" of his men" claims, according to this BBC report with the Bloggerheads analysis of photos taken during this first set of arrests under the SOCPA Designated Area powers on 1at August 2005.
Also note the discrepancy regarding who was using a Loudspeaker - it was Jeremy Corbyn MP (Labour, Islington North), not the person who was arrested as "the focal point of the protest".
N.B. the Section 137 offence of using a Loudspeaker was not an arrestable one on 1st August 2005, but, now, after the commencement of SOCPA Section 110 this 1st January 2006, you can now be arrested for doing so.
According to this Indymedia report, it also appears that seven people were arrested on the 1st of August, but two people do not seem to have faced charges - who was the Somalian woman and the guy in the sunglasses ?
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