A total of 79 people have been arrested in connection with the show - which began on Tuesday - since 1 September, Scotland Yard confirmed.The UK civil rights group Liberty has condemned the police’s reliance on sections of the Terrorism Act to stop and search protesters and is planning to take High Court action to prevent it happening again.
On Wednesday two protesters managed to halt the main public transport route used by delegates to get to the site at the ExCel Centre after chaining themselves to two trains.
Liberty spokesman Barry Hugill is quoted as saying:
The notion of using anti-terrorism legislation cannot be justified under these circumstances whether the demonstrator is a grandmother or a militant young man.Just another example of the erosion of civil liberties, right? Well, not really.
One of the people who chained themselves to the train was identified as Mehdi El-Rahdi, who the BBC describes as “an architect from Machynllethi (sic) in Wales”. Oh, he’s a Welshman is he? Well, not really.
As this BBC report from March notes, El-Rahdi is not just a militant young man, he is also an Iraqi whose family live in central Baghdad. He was opposed to the war in Iraq, visited the country shortly before the outbreak of hostilities and has a history of militant political activity.
I don’t know about you but I want the police to have the power to stop and search politically motivated foreign nationals engaged in acts of sabotage designed to bring attention to their cause.
But then that probably makes me an enemy of civil liberties in the eyes of many of Mehdi’s friends in Machynlleth.
UPDATE
This BBC story has more details and also reports that David Blunkett, the Home Secretary, has asked for a report on why anti-terror laws were used. Link via loving the alien whose template I greatly admire.
