Copenhagen - the coercion starts here

When the various anti-terrorism laws were set in place, the government promised everybody that these powers were to cope with a limited, awful problem. Some idiots believed it. Perhaps one of them (though I doubt it), was Chris Kitchen, an environmentalist activist.

Amongst those with other ideas were the police, who realised that the Terrorism Act 2000 could be used to harass and obstruct anyone with whom they have an ideological disagreement. They don't need to go about the hassle of charging, court appearances, juries and all the other checks and balances which attend the prosecution of justice in a democracy.

Mr. Kitchen was on the bus to Denmark when he was hauled off it under the Terrorism Act to see whether he was a terrorist. On protesting that environmentalism isn't terrorism, the officer informed him that 'terrorism means a lot of things' - which a) isn't true and b) demonstrates the inevitable creeping use of oppressive laws to stifle citizens' freedom of movement and expression.

Sure, it's an isolated case - so far. A fair few hundred people are heading to Copenhagen, and they're not terrorists, just people who want to remind those in the motorcades and fancy hotels that more than just votes are at stake. Time for the police to remember that their duty is to the public, not to those with whom they agree.

(Un)Happy Snapper

I recently posted a clip of the police harassing a man for taking photographs of them - even though it's not an offence. Well, it is now. From today, Section 76 of the Counter-Terrorism act outlaws photographing any member of the armed, intelligence (ho ho) or police forces if said photography could be useful to terrorists. (More commentary here, on the effect on freedom of association and political campaigning)

As we all know, the boys in blue will use any justification to avoid public scrutiny. We've all been aggressively filmed at peaceful demonstrations and I've always enjoyed seeing the compliment returned - particularly as the police are certainly not all Dixon of Dock Green. So remember, they work for us (except when they're simply the shock troops of the Thatcherite regime). Take photos. A picture of a copper doesn't aid terrorism and any terrorist worth their salt will know what a policeman looks like and where New Scotland Yard is. It's just another bullying tactic from a government and force divorced from their citizens. Policing by consent will never be achieved by alienating your public (by, for example, closing down one unit which treated peaceful protestors as 'domestic extremists' and secretly opening another one).