Two Small Victories for Dissent
08.07.07 - 02:03pm
Antiwar protester Brian Haw has won the latest round in his determined battle with the authorities, which have waged an ongoing campaign against his six-year Parliament Square demonstration.
According to news reports today, the High Court has thrown out an appeal by the Director of Public Prosecutions against an earlier ruling that conditions, imposed by the police under the Serious Organised Crime Act, on his peaceful protest against the Iraq war were unlawful. Says the Independent:
Mr Haw and his supporters point out the legislation was meant, as the name suggests, to combat serious offences and not to hound a lone protester just because his presence is a matter of continuing embarrassment for the Government.
Mr Haw, a former carpenter, began his campaign in protest against Tony Blair joining George Bush in invading Iraq almost 1,700 days and nights ago. “Isn’t it strange they are spending so much time and money in prosecuting me and using such heavyweight laws and all I am doing is using my right to protest”, he said. ” Yet Blair has faced no prosecution for genocide and infanticide in Iraq, or for sending British soldiers to their deaths in a war based on lies. When will he face justice ?”
The regime change at Downing Street will not, Mr Haw fears, lead to a change in official attitude towards him. “The legal moves they have taken are continuing under Gordon Brown. On the question of Iraq, he isn’t exactly rushing to pull troops out, is he? So I don’t see how he can shrug off responsibility for the people being killed now by the Americans.”
The case illustrates yet again how centres of power and wealth, whether it be the Government itself, the police or corporations will attempt to exploit the law in order to counter legitimate public protest and dissent. Over the last week we have also seen the British Airports Authority using every possible tactic to try to bar planned climate change protests at Heathrow Airport, including legislation originally aimed at stalkers and raising the spectre of a possible terrorist attack. While an injunction was granted by the courts, it was minimal relative to BAA’s outrageous demands.
Even when they fail, such as in these cases, the effort involved in fighting powerful organisations with considerable resources at their disposal, can prove exhausting and expensive for protesters, often individuals or relatively small voluntary organisations.
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