Kingsnorth report: police intimidation against protesters

Climate Camp's legal support team produced a report documenting a concerted campaign by police to deter, smear, intimidate, harass, and criminalise protesters who did nothing more than attempt to exercise their right to peaceful protest in the name of an important cause.

The twenty three page long report manages to successfully capture the violation of the right of protesting in the UK. A violation that is being carried out by the police forces and with the eulogies of the legal frame in this country.

Amongst others the report illustrates cases of:

• police use of search powers and protesters identification
• seizure of property
• aggressive police intrusions onto the camp site and causes of sleep deprivation(form of torture?!) and,
• defaming of protesters

In order to comply with police's requests, protesters have been threatened of arrest for (amongst others):

• theft of protesters' own bank cards, phones or camp equipment
• immigration offenses for those with foreign accents

Police's mischief and/or over-stretching of their powers as the sole factors resulting in such outrageous policing tactics should be debated. The examples given within this report on the policing tactics of the Kingsnorth Climate Camp are typical of the way police deals with demonstrations and protesting in the UK.

Seen not as yet another “isolated” event , the extent to which the traditional trias politica (exceutive, legislature, judiciary) – and of course the fourth form of power which is today the media - of this state actually facilitate and welcome such practices oughts to be addressed.