UK:Police target anti-war protester and make off with banner

aeon

Council Member
Jan 17, 2006
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I thought dictators came from middle east.......



The veteran peace activist Brian Haw was stripped of his anti-war banners and placards by up to 50 police officers in an early-morning raid in Parliament Square yesterday.

There were chaotic and farcical scenes as police wrestled with nine dishevelled protesters led by Mr Haw, and a 40-metre line of anti-war placards, including two donated by the graffiti artist Banksy, was dismantled and dumped in a metal container. Two demonstrators, Martin McGrath and Maria Gallastegui, who tried to climb the metal container to salvage the placards, were arrested. Mr Haw claimed that officers had seized his "personal belongings" as well, including bedding, clothes and a treasured Bible.

By yesterday afternoon, the 40-metre protest line had shrunk to three metres, with two small placards remaining. The police presence far outweighed that of the protesters, who included a mime artist bearing a thought bubble with the inscription "free speech".


And the rest of the article http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/crime/article570949.ece