Laurie Penny

Pop culture, politics and feminism

How protest is being outlawed

The message from the Alfie Meadows case is clear: if you protest, the police can do what they like t

By Laurie Penny Published 24 March 2012 10:37

New York

Alfie Meadows still hasn't grown his hair back. When they rushed him into theatre for emergency brain surgery after his injury in a demonstration against the tripling of university fees, doctors shaved the 20-year-old's shoulder-length locks, the style that announces to the world "I am a philosophy student". Now the thatch is gone, exposing a hand-length scar across his skull, he looks much younger. Thin and shy with eyes that dart downwards, Meadows speaks rarely, and never about his legal case against the Metropolitan police officers who his lawyers claim nearly killed him. This week he goes on trial for violent disorder for his actions that day, a charge that could land him in jail.

The message being sent may as well have been printed on official police stationary and distributed outside the court: in protest situations, police are never in the wrong. Meadows is among the most high profile of dozens of protesters who have been tried for serious public order offences over the past eighteen months. As emergency measures against public assembly and popular protest are passed in time for the Olympics, any political direct action more energetic than standing silently with a few signs in designated areas is becoming functionally illegal in Britain.

The narrative of public dissent is being rewritten with astonishing speed. As police continue to crack heads with impunity, peaceful protesters are handed down harsh deterrent charges. Ten defendants in the Fortnum and Mason trial were recently given six-month suspended sentences for aggravated trespass, essentially for standing around in a grocery shop with some leaflets. I was there at the time, and the worst I saw was some slogans against corporate tax avoidance being carefully wrapped on printed ticker-tape around large stacks of Earl Grey tea. For those swept up in last year's riots, meanwhile, there hasn't been a crumb of mercy. As I write, teenagers are still in prison for creating Facebook events.

Whatever we think about how these young people behaved, we should have the decency to call them what they are: political prisoners. That this government has run out of ideas for enforcing austerity beyond frightening people into compliance may be of little comfort to those whose young lives and job prospects will be blighted by deterrent jail sentences.

As with music and angular haircuts, so with public order policing -- the Americans are at least a year behind us in keeping up with the latest trends. This week, during another brutal crackdown on Occupy Wall Street, skulls were stomped on, heads were cracked into windows and journalists were dragged or shoved away from the scene as anti-capitalist protesters attempted to peacefully reoccupy Zucotti Park, site of the original encampment that drew international attention last September.

From behind hastily-erected police barricades, I watched as a curly-haired girl in green appeared to begin having a seizure during her arrest, flopping about on the pavement with her hands cuffed and passing out more than once before police eventually allowed an ambulance behind the lines. As she was stretchered away, protesters standing near me speculated that the NYPD would have to put the girl -- later identified as 23-year-old Cecily McMillan -- on a felony charge to "get out of this one".

Sure enough, McMillan was released into custody the next day and charged with assaulting a police officer, a crime that could see her serving over a year in prison. I thought of Alfie Meadows, whose trial in London will send the same message to anyone thinking of joining the cultural backlash against austerity and kamikaze capitalism. If you protest, the police can do what they like to you. Any sort of public dissent can and will be met with force. You chose to protest, so you asked for it. Next time, make it easy on yourself -- sit down, shut up and stay at home.

Tags: Protest Student protests

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77 comments

Wed, 2012-07-18 10:27 — Niko (not verified)

protesters holding up signs are tard with the same brush or worse The dangerous ones get away with it or go through this corrupt juditial system and are dealt with softly on the cheap via fine or suspended sentences by magistrates court 99% conviction rate via no jury only district judge.

Wed, 2012-07-11 19:07 — hajar (not verified)

hii
nice article.motorcycle jeans

Wed, 2012-05-16 17:33 — stinky

May be the police were out of order I dont know I wasnt there, but one thing is a fact like it or not,the police have used violence and intimidation as a means to ensure compliance for a very long time, getting charged at by coppers in boiler suits waving riot sticks in your face while not displaying any means to identify them is a tactic they are well versed n. Things have not and are not always reported in the daily bla blas.

Tue, 2012-05-01 12:27 — Tony montana (not verified)

Police dont deserve praise nor does the juditial system they target or cherry pick out of rioters or protesters the ones holding up signs not dangerous rioters or protesters who smash up shops.protesters holding up signs are tard with the same brush or worse The dangerous ones get away with it or go through this corrupt juditial system and are dealt with softly on the cheap via fine or suspended sentences by magistrates court 99% conviction rate via no jury only district judge.
Its all about costs and statistics govenment tagets nonsence. The right to protest is nulified indirectly via sec 5 public order act in reality there is no right to protest against this corrupt government.

Thu, 2012-04-26 16:50 — Nude0007 (not verified)

I wasn't there, I didn't see, but in all fairness it seems to me, that when people lose their right to voice, soon will follow their right of choice, and after that their right to know, and so on and on downward we go. I thought they were to protect and serve, not beat upon those who have the nerve to question what doesn't seem right. I guess sports fans just love a fight!

Sat, 2012-04-14 00:07 — Dickie1

Has Laurie Penny been outlawed? we haven't heard a peep out of her for a while.

Mon, 2012-04-16 20:12 — Flashbuck

Let's hope so.

Sat, 2012-04-21 00:37 — Agent (not verified)

What a C&%t

Wed, 2012-04-04 23:26 — Spondulicks (not verified)

Wh'appen? There were over a hundred comments last time I looked. Is protest being outlawed on this blog?

Wed, 2012-04-04 13:38 — test-test (not verified)

Ah, Laurie, not content with your usual whining about student rioters and "Police brutality! Police brutality!", you bring contempt of court into your articles - it's not proven Meadows was hit by a police baton and you know it.

What you fail to realise is that the overwhelming majority of people are fed up with the preciousness and narcissism of leftist, privileged, middle-class trustafarian undergraduates who think they're entitled to the moon on a stick and entitled to riot and shout and bawl if they don't get it. Just because you style yourself the voice of youth doesn't mean everyone else wants to hear it all the time.

Sun, 2012-05-13 11:03 — Samael.NotAStatesman (not verified)

So it is only legitimate to protest once we've been oppressed enough to not be able to afford to eat?

The middle class should only protest when there is not longer a middle class?

Or should we voice dissent when we feel that our standard of living is being destroyed?

I'll take the latter thanks...

And don't give me crap about "we can't afford to fund education". Since the 1960's when education was free in many liberal democracies, has GDP per person shrunk or grown? Its not a question of whether we can fund it, its a question of what we want to put our economic resources towards: Lamborghinis or education...

Sun, 2012-05-13 08:23 — manc61 (not verified)

John Smith, you're a f***ing dick.

Sun, 2012-05-13 08:23 — manc61 (not verified)

John Smith, you're a f***ing dick.

Wed, 2012-05-09 12:28 — antisylphid (not verified)

Powerfull piece; shattered my ultimate fetish fantasy about boys on motorbikes. I've never experienced any wrongdoing from them, on the contrary. This is how experience shapes opinions.
Welcome everybody. Never seen better house rules in my LIFE.

Fri, 2012-04-13 16:08 — Brewin (not verified)

I think that's what the EDL is for.

Fri, 2012-04-13 16:08 — Brewin (not verified)

I think that's what the EDL is for.

Sun, 2012-03-25 14:23 — Robert Taggart

Why do so many who have some 'beef' with life feel the need to inflict their 'beef' upon the rest of us ?
CALM DOWN DEARS !

Sun, 2012-03-25 15:11 — gerry (not verified)

What the police did to the striking miners in the 80s and beyond should never be forgotten or even forgiven, they were -literally- the shock troops of Thatcherism and the Sun back then...

What we can all do now is to keep the pressure on them re Leveson and Elveden and Weeting, reminding everyone just how corrupt, criminal and dishonest the Met Police and other forces are...as another poster rightly said, their core function is still to protect the rich, their interests and their property, which was why they were set up in the nineteenth century!

Sun, 2012-03-25 15:51 — John P Reid (not verified)

waffels orignal comment. Stuart eels well said

Delroy, Bloody sunday was the Army not the police,

regarding the miner's strike, What about David wilkie, taking a miner who won his right not to go on strike, to work, he was kille dby striking miners, and people go on about police vioence during the miner's strike.

what any of this had to do with the allegation that Alfie meadows has ciommtied affray during the studinet protest and the idea that becuase he may have had a head injury or the fac that it was his right to prtoest, means he shouldn't be(if there's enough evindence) prosecuted for affray.

Sun, 2012-03-25 16:48 — andyg (not verified)

John P Reid
"Delroy, Bloody sunday was the Army not the police."
It was actually both John but both are instruments of the state who are used against those that they are meant to protect, and who pay for their livlihoods. The only significant difference is the uniform. Wasn't it the Police who kettled hundreds of PEACEFULL demonstrators in London recently?

Sun, 2012-03-25 17:06 — Luddite (not verified)

"How protest is being outlawed". That's not true... Violent assembly and rioting is, but let's not put the inconvenient truth before political dogma.

Sat, 2012-03-24 10:57 — McMac (not verified)

I think what's changing is your perception of the police, Laurie, not their behavior.

If anything the ubiquitous phone camera has moderated their behavior.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:05 — ex plod (not verified)

"The message from the Alfie Meadows case is clear: if you protest, the police can do what they like to you."

Er, personally I think the message from the Alfie meadows case is that these spoilt bourgy brats have far too much time and money on their hands. Give em an extra whack for me.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:19 — David (not verified)

OK, ex plod. But who polices the police? We saw the lengths they went to to cover up officers' conduct in the Tomlinson case (a man who was not involved in the protest the police cack-handedly handleed). 'Attempting to pervert the course of justice', I believe is the crime here; yet the police attempted to do this at an institutional level. The police officer who effectively murdered Tomlinson faced a lesser charge and the senior officers who knew what happened have faced no sanctions. We all know how corrupt the Met are, yet nothing will change.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:21 — plain john smith (not verified)

How can a poly student have brain damage?

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:36 — plain john smith (not verified)

Personally I think La Penny ought to spend more time with her anorexia. Hopefully she'll starve and spare us any more of this self indulgent student union crap.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:39 — JonathanJK (not verified)

Further fuel for those who state, directly protesting is a waste of time and true change comes from changing the system from within.

Doesn't seem like a bad idea now either.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:43 — The Sweeney (not verified)

Oi, ex plod ... you need to understand what's going on in the world.

The new style 'State Troopers' don't understand who the bad guys are. The MF Global scandal in the states means that personal segregated accounts are now fair game for the Money Changers.

So you think you're pension is safe? They'll steal that if they want to you dumb F**k.

This isn't capitalism, this is the merger of state & corporate powers. I'll give you a clue dummy, it begins with 'F' and ends with 'ism'.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:49 — John P Reid (not verified)

The reason that Alfie Maedow is the most well known name of those facing An Affray charge this week IS that HE was the one who got A head injury was took to hospital and then His mUm mistakingly said that "the police refused him entry to Hospital for treatment, Meadows also stated that his head Injury was cuased by A Police baton after He tried to leave the Kettle, Now this affray charge shows him at the Kettle where barriers and things were being thrown at police, and that the left kept saying his injury was from A police4 baton, Now it's coming out that his injury may have been caused by a Baton If A P.C was acting in self defence if Meadows was throing barriers, Or his Injury wasw caused by Another protester throwing a rock that missed,

David the IPCC reprot said that the police didn't try to cover up the Ian Tomlinson death, there was 6 police who made statemnts within hours that HArwood pushed him over,No one mourdered Tomlisnon and yes attempting to pervert the cause of justice would have been had the police kept quiet, But lying saying that you were hit by a truncheon when leaving the protest, when really you were hit by A rock from a protester while you were throwing things at polcie is different.

Laurie even if Meadows lawyers claim that the polce nearly killed him, if he was throwing stuff at police it could have been justified as self defence, remember a Fire extuingisher nearly killed police, and if people do put stuff on Facebook incitng racist hatred ,do you have a problem with that Laurie.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:54 — McMac (not verified)

"IPCC reprot said that the police didn't try to cover up the Ian Tomlinson death"

hahahahahahahahah

That's very funny.

The Filth only addmited their invlovment in his killing after evidence came into the public domain.

Sat, 2012-03-24 11:59 — plain john smith (not verified)

Why don't you protest against stuff that should be protested against: like Muslim honour killings, Muslim queer bashing, Muslim terrorism, Muslim anti-Semitism, Muslim sex grooming gangs, Muslim threats against novelists and cartoonists and Muslims blowing up tube trains.

Stupid question. physical cowardice is the answer.

Sat, 2012-03-24 12:09 — jaded1

I notice Penny that the claim he was hit by a police baton is no longer being trumpeted by you.I assume after the trial you and your paper will be issuing an apology?

Sun, 2012-03-25 18:19 — Ftgyhuj (not verified)

Strangely enough I come from yorkshire, the miners were violent scum and deserved everything they got and more.

But the left lie, it's what they do.

Sat, 2012-03-24 12:28 — Gideon Hallett (not verified)

I'm not sure that this is entirely the case; the police have always been given a free pass when policing mass demos.

I was at the CJB demo in October '94, where the Met put in a cavalry charge against a peaceful demo and assaulted anyone who carried a camera (see Danny Penman's account of being assaulted and hospitalised by three riot police).

I was at the RTS/Dockers demo in Trafalgar Square in 1997, where the police cordoned off half the square and waded in with batons.

I was at J18 in 1999, where the police ran a woman over with a police van (see http://www.urban75.org/j18/j18_8.html) and then prevented her from getting medical attention by stopping an ambulance getting through.

The assaults over the last couple of years have been business as usual for the riot police - though McMac's point about cameraphones has some weight; what we are now seeing is increasingly high-quality footage of police attacks from people on the ground, and the mass media can no longer gloss over reports of police brutality.

(In response, the police are trying to buy technology that will enable them to snoop on or disable cellphones in an area - see http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/30/metropolitan-police-mobile-phon...)

I don't think that their behaviour is new; I think that the coverage of it is; and the police would like to turn back the clock if they could.

And in the current political climate, I can't see any mainstream political party giving anything other than unqualified blessing to the police's wishes.

Sun, 2012-03-25 18:30 — Anon (not verified)

This article is more than the usual Penny hyperbole & should not have been published. Ms Penny (and the Staggers) are in contempt of the court which Meadows is imminently facing, given that she makes unsubstantiated allegations and inferences regarding the incident which lead to him being charged.
The Spectator recently had to make grovelling apologies in court at the Lawrence case after Rod Liddle got a tad too opinionated on the subject; hope the Staggers are prepared for the same.

Sat, 2012-03-24 13:15 — Raymond Dance (not verified)

Problem is, Ms Penny, if Meadows had been demonstrating against immigration or sharia you would have been praising the police. Freedom of speech is for everyone or no-one.

Sat, 2012-03-24 13:17 — John P Reid (not verified)

ncmac, what apsrt of 12 different P.C.s had said to eitehr City polce or made pocket book entries that tehy saw Harwood push, Him over

the Filth comment was orignal too.

Sat, 2012-03-24 15:04 — Waffles (not verified)

ACAB

Same goes for the ignorant police apologists commenting here.

Sat, 2012-03-24 15:40 — Fgtyhuj (not verified)

Ive often wondered why little Laurie never seems to criticise the mad Medhi for his support of Iran and it's hanging of homosexualists.

I hope the police hit more scum on the streets.

Sat, 2012-03-24 16:11 — Ratty (not verified)

Sorry Laurie - this far down the line and there still seems to be NO evidence whatsoever that Alfie's injuries had anything whatsoever to do with the police, rather than an object thrown by a protester. One would have thought that the injuries would have been shown to at least be consistent with a police baton, but no, nothing - one has to wonder why... Have you got any evidence whatsoever to support your claims?

Sun, 2012-03-25 19:35 — John P Reid (not verified)

andyg, Kettling protesters is differtn form the Army erunning into Catholic parts of N.I and shooting them, Kettling is legal for one thing, It's in bad taste, Regarding who pays them Police and The army pay their own tax, so they pay for themselves. the otehr sginificant difference is when the police are beign shot at with starter rifles, Like What Martin Mcguiness fired at the Army the police aren't armed. and the Army was sent in to Norhtern Ireland in 19689 to protect Catholics. the RUC weren't involed with bloody sunday.

Anon well said.

Sun, 2012-03-25 19:38 — andyg (not verified)

Luddite, in case you haven't noticed I am referring to "violent assembly and rioting.........by the instruments that protect the capitalist.
Ftgyuj: What exactly have the left lied about in relation to the above? And why in all that you say do you refer to your bretheran as "scum." Do you consider that people who stand up and try to protect their communities and colleagues as scum? If so why?
The alternative of which I see around the World unfolding is much inferior to the solid communities of the past.
Anon: The name says' it all.

Sat, 2012-03-24 16:32 — gerry (not verified)

Laurie - the police do what their political masters want, so they went nuclear against the students..just as they went nuclear against the miners back in the 1980s..plus ca change!

You do- sadly - have a blind spot when it comes to Islamic marchers and protestors, as other posters have noted... the police, out of fear, go very softly against hate merchants like Islam4Uk or a hundred other vile Islamic fundamentalist groups, yet go nuclear against the EDL when that group - rightly- protests against the islamisation of the UK and the riese of Islamic extremism

So talk about that too Laurie, and you might find a consensus in favour of your argument!

Sun, 2012-03-25 19:51 — andyg (not verified)

"andyg, Kettling protesters is differtn form the Army erunning into Catholic parts of N.I and shooting them."
I know. But would you be so kind as to answer to your original statement?
"Kettling is legal for one thing."
Yes but does it automatically follow that it is right and safe?
"It's in bad taste."
What's in bad taste?
"Regarding who pays them Police and The army pay their own tax, so they pay for themselves."
And where do they obtain the monies to pay Tax John?
"the otehr sginificant difference is when the police are beign shot at with starter rifles."
Is this a reference to bloody Sunday or Kettling?
"Like What Martin Mcguiness fired at the Army the police aren't armed."
I think that you may need to look again at what you have written. I think that once you have you may find the word oops beneficial.
"and the Army was sent in to Norhtern Ireland in 19689 to protect Catholics."
John you really could do with a lesson in social history. (oops)
"the RUC weren't involed with bloody sunday."
I don't recall making reference to the RUC but I stick to the point that you really do require a lesson in social history.

Sat, 2012-03-24 18:59 — Tesco Shelf Stacker (not verified)

@ gerry - 24 March 2012 at 15:32.

Spot on.

Sun, 2012-03-25 20:31 — andyg (not verified)

John, maybe you should start here.
Bloody Sunday which is also referred to as the Bogside Massacre occurred on 30 January 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland. 26 unarmed civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers by the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of which were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run over by an army vehicle. Five of those wounded were shot in the back.
The Saville inquiry which produced its findings on 15th June 2010 found that all of those shot were unarmed, and that the killings were both "unjustified and unjustifiable." Think about it John, all these people were either murdered or seriously injured and yet it takes these people 38 years to receive justice by way of a report that states that they were ‘unarmed.’ Had this been a member of royalty or an MP or maybe a business leader, do you think that their families would have to wait 38 years only to be told that their loved ones were unarmed and murdered?
This was as a direct result from 2 years earlier with the Irish republic been divided or a type of kettling. This dividing was also made legal John it didn’t make it safe though did it?
The residents’ of the nationalist erected barricades around the area to resist police incursions and, after three days of rioting when the RUC had proved unable to restore order, the government of Northern Ireland requested the deployment of the British Army.
Does all this sound familiar John? The experts who come onto your television after the event never seem able to predict the consequences of such terrible events beforehand.
Now read my answer to Delroy Booth above and tell me that there are no similarities.

Sat, 2012-03-24 19:09 — Delroy Booth (not verified)

Wow didn't realize Laurie Penny was such a big favourite amongst the pathetic EDL clowns.

And of course though Laurie's article is absolutely correct, the only bone of contention I have is that this is not exactly a new thing. Go tell the grieving relatives of Bloody Sunday that police violence against peaceful protestors is a new phenomenon.

Sat, 2012-03-24 19:42 — Arturo Bandini (not verified)

Jesus H Corbett! Don't you people realise that this could be any one of us? That regardless of you political views, expressing them now carries the risk of being beaten to death?

Get your fucking mind in gear!