Arrests at State Opening (for holding a piece of cardboard) | indyrikki
Is any further comment required?
Amid the full pomp and circumstance of the all the Queen’s horses and all the Queen’s men, police surround a quiet and peaceful man and arrest both him and a friend of his “to prevent a breach of the peace”.
The sole reason seems to be because he is carrying, but not openly displaying, a small piece of cardboard bearing a protest message about austerity.
The Tory threat to opt out of Human Rights seems to have been pre-empted by this ‘thought police’ action today in Parliament Square.
Source: Arrests at State Opening (for holding a piece of cardboard) | indyrikki
Interesting irony that Maynot is at war with the Police but is still happy to pressure them into doing her dirty work, a fine bit of hypocrisy !
Yes, it appears from the video footage in your link, that nothing provocative was actually done by the arrested man. The essence of the breach-of-the-peace charge is that someone must be put in a state of fear and alarm – and I did not see any evidence of that in the video.
Another case where something similar happened, involved a street preacher falsely accused of the ridiculous crime of “homophobia” by some disgruntled lesbian when the preacher had not even mentioned the subject. He could prove that because he had recorded his comments on his dictaphone – which the police (in their infinite) unwisdom ignored! The case was later dropped and the victim successfully sued the police for wrongful arrest, false imprisonment and a breach of his human rights about free speech. Report (with video) here:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3099487/Christian-preacher-arrested-held-cell-11-HOURS-lesbian-falsely-accuses-homophobia.html
I wonder if the arrested man at the State Opening of Parliament will successfully sue the police?