From: hex@unseen.ac.am 
  
 On 10/08/2025 22:15, billy bookcase wrote: 
 > "The Todal"  wrote in message 
 > news:mfsc9uFs6deU3@mid.individual.net... 
 > 
 > 
 >> Yvette Cooper thanked police for their work handling Palestine rights 
 protests across 
 >> the UK on Saturday, saying there had been a "very small number of people 
 whose actions 
 >> crossed the line into criminality". 
 >> 
 >> unquote 
 >> 
 >> Which implies that many people were arrested for actions that didn't cross 
 the line 
 >> into criminality. 
 > 
 > Which also clearly indicates that the Home Secretary is quite willing to 
 > prejudge issues of criminality;  which formerly were the sole province of 
 > the Courts to decide 
  
 Which of course they will in due course, if any charges are actually 
 brought. 
  
 There is very little doubt that the vast majority at least of those 
 arrested were strictly breaking the law which says: 
  
 "A person commits an offence if the person€€€ 
  
 (a) expresses an opinion or belief that is supportive of a proscribed 
 organisation, and 
  
 (b) in doing so is reckless as to whether a person to whom the 
 expression is directed will be encouraged to support a proscribed 
 organisation." 
  
 The law is framed in such a way that it encompasses holding a placard 
 expressing support of Palestine Action, which the many arrested 
 'terrorist offenders' did directly and deliberately. 
  
 The main purpose of their protest in my view, however, was not to do 
 anything about Palestine, which no-one here can, but to show the absurd 
 nature of the law by getting arrested for peacefully exerting their 
 right to freedom of expression, which is an admirable and honourable aim. 
  
 "In a post on X shortly after 6.45pm on Sunday, Defend Our Juries said 
 every person arrested in the square had been released from police 
 custody, and that none had been charged." 
  
 https://news.sky.com/story/more-than-500-people-arrested-after-p 
 lestine-action-protest-with-about-a-half-aged-60-and-above-13409747 
  
 That sounds to me like 532 unwarranted arrests for which someone needs 
 to be accountable. 
  
 Now I hope the government will be held to account for the 
 heavy-handedness of the police, the very large number of arrests that 
 came to nothing, the cost of them and the relocation of other prisoners 
 (which I'm paying for incidentally), and indeed having such a law at all 
 that either can't be or won't be enforced. 
  
 The whole situation is a ludicrous shambles.  The government is to 
 blame, and it needs to do something about it urgently.  Does it really 
 believe in freedom of expression and the right to protest peacefully or 
 doesn't it? 
  
 --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05 
  * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)