Despite terror fears, UK softens curbs on freedoms

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Despite terror fears, UK softens curbs on freedoms
By DAVID STRINGER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, January 25, 2011; 8:15 AM

LONDON -- Despite continuing jitters in Europe over new terror plots, Britain's government is rolling back unpopular security laws - widely considered the toughest among Western democracies - for the first time since 9/11.

Home Secretary Theresa May is on Wednesday to announce sweeping restrictions to powers held by police and prosecutors to combat terrorism, seeking to strike a new balance between personal freedoms and public safety.

After taking office in May, Britain's coalition government said the previous administration had "abused and eroded fundamental human freedoms," promising to overhaul the most draconic features of its counterterrorism armory.

May will confirm curbs on police powers to stop and search suspects and a drastic cut in the amount of time officers are permitted to detain those arrested over purported plots before they must be charged with a crime or freed.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/25/AR2011012501638.html

[villager]

1. When they say "It can't happen here," what they mean now is the "rollback" of government intrusion

...created by/for the terror-industrial complex.