As you may know, I am planning to steward the Stop the War march tomorrow (after having some stitches out in the morning). Here is the latest on what may be a difficult day ahead.
After having initially worked with the organisers in the usual way, the Metropolitan Police abruptly and arbitrarily decided that this march “will not take place”. There is little real doubt that they have been put under direct political pressure – Mr. Brown is due to make his statement inside the Commons at that time about Iraq: public demonstrations outside are not a welcome part of the media coverage.
The march has been banned under the Sessional Orders of 1839 which states:
That the Commissioner of the Police of the Metropolis do take care that during the Session of Parliament the passages through the streets leading to this House be kept free and open and that no obstruction be permitted to hinder the passage of Members to and from this House…
This seems to be a perfectly reasonable provision to allow MPs access to their place of work, and as a steward, I will be trying to ensure that no MP is inconvenienced. It would, however, be far easier to ensure their free passage if the police were to work with us, rather than to adopt a stance of non-cooperation which is widely perceived as, at best, politically motivated and at worst, directly confrontational.
The Sessional Orders are probably being used in place of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (which which restricts the right to demonstrate within an exclusion zone of up to one kilometre from any point in Parliament Square) because Mr. Brown has said he plans to repeal this section of the SOCPA. I trust he will be as good as his word.
I will try to photo-blog onto my Jaiku account from the march.
