Observations on protest
Anyone passing Parliament Square the other night will have seen 150 banner-wielding folk, a man in a tight-fitting leopard suit, a panto cop, a bevy of news crews and one Tory member of the London Assembly complaining about the whole thing. This was the capital's second "mass lone demonstration" and I believe it is a unique new form of protest.
Under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (Socpa) any individual standing in Parliament Square "protesting" without police permission can be arrested, and so wide is the definition of protest that police threatened to arrest a friend of mine for having a picnic. (Officers decided that the word "peace" iced on her cakes made them political cakes, which in turn made her picnic an illegal protest.)
And it's not just the word that is widely defined; so is the location. If I want to stand outside the offices of Channel 4 with a badge saying "Big Brother is shit!" I need police approval, and if I want to hand out a single leaflet on Hungerford Bridge I also need police approval. (I have a letter from Superintendent Terry at Charing Cross Police Station giving me permission to do that very thing.)
When the icing on a cake or a leaflet on a bridge or a badge on a lapel can get you arrested, we can safely conclude that something is wrong. And the brave souls who refuse to comply with the law risk frequent arrest.
But if the law says that an individual needs permission to demonstrate, what happens if a whole load of individuals apply to stage "lone demonstrations" at the same time? If approval is what the law demands, then approval is what we shall seek - en masse.
So, on a balmy August evening, roughly 150 people queued up at Charing Cross Police Station to apply for permission to demonstrate. Four officers had to set up a special room to handle their requests; the photocopier didn't work, news crews and protesters thronged in front of the station, and a passer-by was heard to inquire: "Has someone famous been arrested?"
People applied to demonstrate on a suitably broad range of matters. Some wanted Blair tried for war crimes, some wanted Middle East peace, some wanted free tampons on the NHS and some wanted free chocolate.
Sian, who was threatened with arrest for having a political cake, made a large sponge and iced her application on it. When the police pointed out that there was nowhere to countersign it, she shared the cake with the officers before handing in a more conventional application form.
Meanwhile a woman claiming to be a medium said she was channelling the ghost of Winston Churchill, who was really pissed off about Socpa and intended to demonstrate. "Could I take down the details again," asked a police officer, "as I can't read Mr Churchill's writing?"
Will it work? Will the law change? Is it all just about annoying the authorities? Come along and find out: the next mass lone demonstration is handing in forms on 15 September between 5.30pm and 7.30pm at Charing Cross Police Station. The protests themselves will take place on 22 September from 6pm-7.30pm.
Your forms need to be with the police at any time up to six days before the event. For further information, call Charing Cross Police Station on 020 7240 1212 and ask for Special Events.
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