Very early on Tuesday morning, the police came to force the protesters out, after Johnson got a court order. So now there is a clean, clear lawn again. Repressive governments the world over have seen footage of protesters being cleared from the lawn of the Mother of Parliaments, and chuckled with vindication.

MPs will look out on a reassuringly empty space as they stroll in to make their decisions, with the public will unvoiced. And Winston Churchill stands alone once more, save for the tourists, and the traffic, and the false silence of a displaced citizenry.

 

Ian Tomlinson death: police officer will not face criminal charges

The police officer who was caught on video striking a man during the G20 protests last year who later died will not face criminal charges, the Crown Prosecution Service announced today.

Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, said there was "no realistic prospect" of a conviction, because of a conflict between the two postmortems carried out after Tomlinson's death last year.

The newspaper seller died following the demonstrations on 1 April 2009 in central London. The official account that he died from a heart attack was undermined when the Guardian obtained video footage showing a riot officer striking the 47-year-old with a baton and shoving him to the ground shortly before he collapsed and died.

The director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer QC, announced this morning that the police officer would not face a criminal trial.

The decision will enrage Tomlinson's family, who believe the officer's attack had contributed to the death. They had wanted a charge of manslaughter to be brought.

The family went to the headquarters of the CPS in London to be told of the decision. The police officer, who is suspended from duty, was told at the same time. He could still face disciplinary action.

London mayor Boris Johnson has finally got his way after the High Court granted him an injunction to remove peace campaigner Brian Haw from his 10-year perch in Parliament Square.

Ironically, 62-year-old Haw wasn't there to receive the bad news. Representing him in court instead was fellow activist Barbara Tucker, against whom the injunction has also been placed.

'Babs', as she is known to her fellow campaigners, is - quite literally - holding the fort for Haw while he is in Germany being treated for lung cancer.

Legal battles to try and remove his anti-war encampment have been going on since October 2002, but have so far been unsuccessful. Known for shouting slogans through his megaphone for hours on end, the news will come as a relief to those politicians and journalists whose offices overlook Parliament Square.

Judge Wyn Williams ruled that "Parliament Square Gardens is not a suitable location for prolonged camping; such camping is incompatible with the function, lawful use and character [of Parliament Square] … and it is also inconsistent with the proper management of the area as a whole."

He didn't mention the royal wedding though Boris Johnson and David Cameron have both made it plain in recent weeks that they want Haw out of the way before the world's TV cameras descend on the area to cover William and Kate's procession.

Haw - and more recently Tucker - have faced constant hassle in their crusade to highlight what they see as the injustice of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. "We're not here because they let us," Tucker told The First Post today. "I've been arrested 39 times, and kidnapped a handful of times."

Judge Williams's ruling will only come into effect if an application to appeal has not been lodged by March 28. Tucker insists that they will appeal, whether Haw is back from Germany not. "Brian started this campaign," she said. "He is the spirit of the campaign. It's that simple really. But we will carry on."

Read more: http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/76525,people,news,boris-johnson-wins-battle-to-evict-anti-war-protester-brian-haw#ixzz1H4e9Fnp7

-----------------

When a judge confuses campaign with camping, the world of philosophy is in trouble...

Ian Tomlinson was "not confrontational at all" when he was "violently shoved" by a police officer at the London G20 protests, the man who filmed the incident told an inquest.

Christopher La Jaunie, from New York, on Thursday said he was in the City for a conference and decided to take a colleague to watch the protests. Once the police brought dogs out on the streets he took out a compact digital camera and commenced filming.

La Jaunie later passed his film to The Guardian, casting doubt on earlier police claims that Tomlinson, a 47-year-old newspaper vendor, who died within an hour of being struck by a police baton and pushed to the ground, had suffered a heart attack unrelated to his treatment.

Ian Tomlinson was not confrontational with police, inquest hears

The controversial police tactic of kettling has been dealt a severe legal blow after the High Court ruled that thousands of protesters at the G20 protests in April 2009 were detained unlawfully and that officers used excessive force against them.

The case was brought by Josh Moos, an activist with Plane Stupid, and student Hannah McClure, who were among protesters at the Climate Camp in Bishopsgate in the City of London - a demonstration which police admit was peaceful.

However, a separate protest at the nearby Royal Exchange, where the newspaper vendor Ian Tomlinson died after being struck by a police officer, was marred by instances of violence.

Police dispersed the Royal Exchange protest and, fearing that protesters from here would move on to the Climate Camp and cause trouble, imposed a kettle on the peaceful protesters.

Kettling is a containment tactic which effectively imprisons protesters. At the Bishopsgate Climate Camp, it was imposed for around four hours and involved police pushing back a 15-deep crowd and delivering punches and blows with riot shields.

The two judges presiding ruled yesterday that the kettling operation, which resulted in the detention of thousands of people for four hours, was not necessary to prevent a breach of the peace and was an unlawful deprivation of the protesters' liberty under article 5 of the European Human Rights Convention.

They said: "It is evident that there were instances of unduly inflexible release [from the kettle] and instances of unnecessary and unjustified force in the pushing operation."

They said they were not persuaded that the pushing operation was "reasonably necessary".

Police kettling of peaceful G20 protesters was illegal