Three arrested for Afghanistan war protest at Cenotaph
After 90 minutes of a 229 minute demonstration in silence, three people who took their protest against the Afghanistan war to the Cenotaph on the day 5 more British soldier died, were arrested.
Maria was released at midnight last night on unconditional bail to attend court in mid December.
She was arrested under section 132 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (which is scheduled for repeal) for taking part in an unauthorised demonstration within the designated area.
The two she was with were also released on bail, Simon (left) unconditionally and the other, Ian (right) on a condition he does not take part in any further protests or demonstrations within the designated area between now and his court date.
Maria, Simon and Ian at the Cenotaph (photo by Terence Bunch)
Maria being arrested after about 90 minutes - why couldn't the police let them stay the 229 minutes as they had planned (1 minute for each British soldier killed). (photo by Terence Bunch)
Afghanistan war protest
THREE PROTEST AT CENOTAPH OVER AFGHANISTAN WAR
229 minute silent protest – one minute for each British war dead
At 2pm this afternoon, three people began a protest at the Cenotaph, the monument to British war dead in Whitehall, London, about the escalating war in Afghanistan.
Holding a banner saying ‘End Afghanistan corporate war. Honour our troops. Bring them home’, the three intend to remain for 229 minutes (3 hours and 49 minutes). Each minute represents one British soldier killed since the conflict began in 2001. The protest will be carried out in silence.
This year alone, 92 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan. (1).
The protest will also honour the many thousands of Afghanistan civilian deaths as a direct result of the war (2) with indiscriminate airstrikes accounting for a large increase in deaths of Afghans since 2006 (3).
NOTES
3. http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/09/07/afghanistan-civilian-deaths-airstrikes
Presenting a petition to the Prime Minister earlier in the day
The statement signed by those taking part in the protest - 229 minutes silence
More protest in Parliament Square
Maria wins in court
On 2nd October Maria won a case in Westminster Magistrates Court against a charge under the Public Order Act. She was arrested for 'insulting behaviour' when she climbed up the Churchill Statue in Parliament Square with placards highlighting the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka held in atrocious conditions in military camps. Maria was charged after a complaint by Nicholas Soames MP, Winston Churchill's grandson, who happened to be driving into the Houses of Parliament at the time.
Maria represented herself and successfully argued that any offence caused to Nicholas Soames was unintentional and that references on her placards to nazi concentration camps was legitimate for campaigning purposes.
Maria creates Sri Lankan concentration camp protest on Churchill's statue
In the early hours of this morning, Maria occupied the Churchill statue in Parliament Square. Surrounded by barbed wire as a symbol of the concentration camps in the Tamil area of Sri Lanka, she is highlighting the plight of hundreds of thousands of ordinary Tamil civilians who are being held in atrocious conditions in military camps.
The camps break many international conventions, and there are many reports of disappearances,rapes and torture. Also, medical personnel are denied access, and international NGOs and medical organisations cannot get into the area with any aid. The Sri Lankan Government has imposed draconian restrictions on journalism, so the only news and monitoring is at grassroots level.
The action at Parliament Square is a striking image, with Churchill surrounded by barbed wire and placards about the Tamil Plight.
For more images and a report, see here.
