Britain enacts blanket ban on protests

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196108.html

The British government has applied a blanket ban on all kind of marches and protest gatherings in London amid fears of violence and disorder.

The Home Office announced the blanket ban on all marches in five London boroughs for 30 days starting from September 2, the Independent reported.

Home Secretary Theresa May banned all marches in Tower Hamlets, east London, and four neighboring boroughs in the capital for a 30-day period following a request from Scotland Yard Acting Commissioner Tim Godwin.

The move comes amid fears of violence and disorder if the marches were allowed to go ahead.

"Having carefully considered the legal tests in the Public Order Act and balanced rights to protest against the need to ensure local communities and property are protected, I have given my consent to a ban on all marches in Tower Hamlets and four neighboring boroughs for a 30-day period”, said the Home Secretary.

"I know that the Metropolitan Police are committed to using their powers to ensure communities and properties are protected”, added Theresa May.

"We encourage all local people and community leaders to work with the police to ensure community relations are not undermined by public disorder", she said.

Therefore, the English Defense League's plan to march through the capital next month was blocked by the Home Secretary.

But, the British Unite against Fascism (UAF) and United East End (UEE) movement threatened that they will press ahead with the plan for anti Fascist march on September 3, issuing the following statement:

“We the undersigned welcome the banning of the racist English Defense League's (EDL) march through Tower Hamlets.

However, we believe the headlines claiming the EDL have been "banned" from Tower Hamlets are misleading. The EDL will still be holding a static protest in the borough.

“We are also appalled to discover that the Metropolitan Police are applying for a blanket ban on ALL marches across five London boroughs: Tower Hamlets, Newham, Hackney, Islington and Waltham Forest; and the City of London for 30 days”, said the statement.

“This is a huge attack on everyone's civil liberties and prevents people's right to oppose racism.

“We have the democratic right to peacefully march through Tower Hamlets on 3 September to show unity of Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu, Black, Asian, LGBT communities, trade unions and all those against fascism and for freedom, and to voice opposition to the EDL's attempts to divide us.

“Our legal advice says there is no law that says if one march has been banned all marches in that area must be banned.

“It is our human right to peacefully march in Tower Hamlets.

“We therefore support the joint UAF/UEE protest on 3 September”, added the statement.

The government's blanket ban is part of an on-going attempt to undermine the right to protest in the UK.

The coalition is designating harsh measures to silence all anti-government protests in the country.

The ban will also affect London's most important protest against the arms trade called “Disarm DSEi,” which has been organized by anti-war activists to urge the government to shut down the world's largest arms fair on September 13.

London is to host the world's biggest arms fair, Defense & Security Equipment International (DSEi), on 13-16 September at the ExCeL center in East London's Docklands.

The fair holds every two years in London, this year more than 1200 arms companies will exhibit their deadly products to 25,000 buyers from across the world, including repressive and human rights abusing regimes.

“Europe Against Austerity” protest on October 1 would also be involved in the Home Office's blanket ban plan.

Leading British trade unions, social movements and progressive organizations have decided to stage a protest at European Conference against Austerity and Privatization.

UK tightens grip on social networking

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195712.html

Britain's Home Secretary Theresa May is set to host a meeting with the executives of social networking websites Facebook, Twitter, and BlackBerry to discuss whether users of the sites should be blocked when they are seen to be planning criminality.

BlackBerry Messenger, a service allowing its users to send free one-to-many messages to their network, was regarded as the main social network used by protesters during the recent unrest swept across England.

While the British politicians and experts consider the possibility of a clampdown on the social networks in the future, May and some top Metropolitan police officers are to discuss with the executives of the social media industry to measure the role of the industry in inciting civil disobedience.

"These discussions will help us determine how law enforcement and the networks can work better together. Among the issues to be discussed is whether and how we should be able to stop people communicating via these websites and services when we know they are plotting violence, disorder, and criminality,” a Home Office spokeswoman said

"Social networking is not a cause of the recent disturbances but a means of enabling criminals to communicate. We are working with the police to see what action can be taken to prevent access to those services by customers identified as perpetrators of disorder or other criminal action,” she added.

This is while that Facebook and Twitter are planning to oppose the ministers and experts' calls to ban people from social networks or close their websites during the unrest.

They are to warn senior British officials against setting up emergency measures, which would lead to a new form of online censorship.

In response, they will outline the measures that both social networks have already initiated to remove messages that potentially inflame public disorder. Facebook insisted that it removed “several credible threats of violence” to stop the unrest across England this month.

Meanwhile the coalition of ten human rights groups, including Amnesty International and Index on Censorship, wrote a letter to Home Secretary and said they were "very concerned" that new steps to restrict Facebook and Twitter will be "susceptible to abuse" and "undermine people's privacy.”

“There is existing legislation regulating the interception and disclosure of communications information, the use of communications evidence by law enforcement and restrictions on people's use of communications technology,” the letter signed by ten leading human rights groups read.

"It is reasonable to review the existing legal regime to ensure that it appropriately fits new technologies,” the groups added

However, the letter said that shutting down, curbing or controlling people's communications networks need extreme care and open, detailed deliberation.

"We are very concerned that new measures, made in good faith but in a heated political environment, will overextend powers in ways that would be susceptible to abuse, restrict legitimate, free communication and expression, and undermine people's privacy. This is especially so if proposals involve unaccountable voluntary arrangements between law enforcement and communications providers," human rights groups said.