Green politician Jenny Jones arrested in Occupy London protest
Source: The Guardian
Police have arrested 15 demonstrators at Parliament Square including, for a brief period, the Green Party politician Jenny Jones.
Jones, chairwoman of the London assembly’s economy committee and deputy chair of its police and crime committee, went to see what was happening at the Occupy London protest on Tuesday morning after her office had been contacted by protesters complaining about heavy-handed police tactics.
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The swoop by police follows a crackdown on Sunday night when large numbers of officers converged on the square to enforce a “desist notice”.
Scotland Yard said in a statement on Tuesday: “This morning there were around 15 people demonstrating in Parliament Square. The group on the grassed area had been sleeping on a tarpaulin which is prohibited under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, namely they have items with them to enable them to sleep in Parliament Square.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/oct/21/jenny-jones-arrested-occupy-london-protest?CMP=fb_gu
An insight into what else has been going on...
#OccupyDemocracy in Parliament Square: Hands Off Our Tarpaulin!
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The protest in question had been organised under the banner of "Occupy", a slogan most recently celebrated in the context of pro-democracy demonstrations in Hong Kong. Britain's#OccupyDemocracy campaigners are demanding reforms to our democratic process "so that it serves the public interest, rather than the interests of corporations, banks and a tiny wealthy elite."
"We know that democracy is not just about having a vote every four, now five years" say the group, who are now four days into a proposed ten day occupation of Parliament Square Gardens, "It is about having the power to make your voice heard."
[OccupyDemocracy.org.uk]
Having already been supported with talks and workshops delivered by, among others, Green Party leader Natalie Bennett and Labour MP John McDonnell, speakers on Sunday afternoon included Ann Pettifor (New Economics Foundation) and John Christensen (Tax Justice Network). While the former emphasised the importance of understanding financial markets -- and especially of the dangers of deflation in a world enmeshed with debt -- the latter exposed the injustices of corporate tax evasion and "competitive" taxation rates.
The #OccupyDemocracy campaigners, are, in other words, not a bunch of disengaged criminals. Described by Russell Brand as "like radicalised ninja turtles", they consist of men and women from a variety of social and ethnic backgrounds, all intent on building a bigger democracy, a better democracy, a real democracy that speaks for the 99%... even if that means being pulled apart by policemen with no better laws to enforce, being forced to sit and stand and sleep in shifts on the muddy lawns of our renowned democracy.
Parliament Square was created as a place to hold protest and democratic assemblies. This is where women gathered in the early years of the twentieth century in order to (often violently) demand their right to vote. Today by contrast, in the early years of the twenty-first century, campaigners are peacefully demanding that they be allowed the right to sit on tarpaulin; that their basic dignity be recognised as peaceful protesters concerned with the direction of Britain's democratic tradition.
Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/tom-fielder/occupy-democracy-in-parli_b_6013276.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
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