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Lawyers call for an investigation into police surveillance at the Palestinian demonstration

Lawyers call for an investigation into police surveillance at the Palestinian demonstration


Dozens of leading UK legal experts have called for an independent investigation into the Metropolitan Police actions during our pro-Palestine protest on Saturday 18th January in which our butler Chris Nineham was violently arrested

In a letter to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, the lawyers describe the policing of the demonstration as “a disproportionate, unjustified and dangerous attack on the right to assembly and protest” and call on the government to intervene as “the drift of the law and “British surveillance.” poses a fundamental threat to the right to protest.”

Full text of the letter below:

Letter to the Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper MP

CC: Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London

CC: Richard Hermer, Attorney General

Defend the right to protest

The arrest of Chief Butler Chris Nineham and several participants in the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) rally on 18 January 2025 and the subsequent filing of charges against Ben Jamal, head of the PSC, represents a disproportionate measure, unjustified and dangerous. assault on the right to assembly and protest in Britain.

This right has been considered central to democratic life in Britain for centuries. Advancing the causes of Chartists, trade unionists, suffragettes and many more. It is now formally protected through the Human Rights Act 1998 through articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Together, the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted these two articles as conferring on individuals a broad right to peaceful protest, imposing strict obligations, both negative and positive, on public bodies to respect and facilitate the right to protest. .

In recent years, this right has been undermined by a series of new laws and a change in police tactics that emphasizes controlling and limiting protests, rather than facilitating them, as required by European and international legal standards. This attack on the right to protest has intensified over the past year, with anti-war and pro-Palestinian protesters suffering particularly acute attacks on their rights to peacefully protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

The conditions imposed by the Metropolitan Police on the PSC demonstration on 18 January 2025 were disproportionate and an abuse of police powers. Despite a demonstrable track record of overwhelmingly peaceful protests for more than a year, police prevented the protest from gathering near or marching towards the BBC on Saturday without offering any convincing evidence. The police therefore appeared to be motivated by political considerations that seek to limit the effectiveness of protesters and protect state institutions from criticism.

The subsequent arrest of the chief steward and others based on factual claims that the available video evidence appears to clearly contradict, further reflects this abuse of police powers. It is a worrying escalation in the attack on the right to protest in general, and anti-war and pro-Palestine protests in particular.

As lawyers and legal academics, we echo the concerns of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and many others that the drift of British legislation and policing poses a fundamental threat to the right to protest. A threat that all of us who care about human rights, equality and the rule of law must resist.

We believe that charges against those arrested, or subsequently charged, in relation to alleged public order offenses on 18 January 2025 should be dropped, and that an independent investigation into the policing of this protest should be carried out. More fundamentally, we call for the repeal of the series of anti-protest laws passed in recent years and a recalibration of the law so that it genuinely protects the right to protest.

Dr Paul O’Connell, Reader in Law, SOAS University of London

Dr Nimer Sultany, Reader in Law, SOAS University of London

Dr Daniella Lock, Professor of Law, King’s College London

Dr Kanika Sharma, Senior Lecturer in Law, SOAS University of London

Dr Gregory Davies, Professor of Law, University of Liverpool

Dr Eva Nanopoulos, Reader in Law, Queen Mary, University of London

Dr. Lena El-Malak, independent legal consultant

Dr Tanzil Chowdhury, Senior Lecturer in Law, Queen Mary, University of London

Professor Neve Gordon, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Nicola Perugini, Senior Lecturer in International Relations, University of Edinburgh

Professor Jeff King, Professor of Law, UCL Laws

Professor Marco Goldoni, Professor of Philosophy of Law, University of Glasgow

Professor Laleh Khalili, University of Exeter

Dr Sarah Keenan, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Professor Penny Green, Faculty of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Professor David Whyte School of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Professor David Mead, Faculty of Law, University of East Anglia

Dr Shahd Hammouri, Professor of International Law at the University of Kent Law School

Dr Michelle Staggs Kelsall, Senior Lecturer in International Law, SOAS University of London

Professor Kristian Lasslett, School of Applied Social and Political Sciences, University of Ulster

Dr Maria Tzanakopoulou, Birkbeck, Faculty of Law

Dr Sara Razai, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London

Dr Nicolette Busuttil, Professor of Law, SOAS University of London

Dr Luigi Daniele, Senior Lecturer in IHL and IPR, Nottingham Law School, Nottingham Trent University

Dr Andrew Pitt, Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Dr Zoe Adams, Associate Professor of Law, University of Cambridge

Dr Rose Parfitt, Senior Lecturer, Kent Law School, University of Kent

Dr Steven Cammiss, Birmingham Law School, University of Birmingham

Dr Mazen Masri, Senior Lecturer in Law, City St George’s, University of London

Professor Lynn Welchman, Faculty of Law, SOAS University of London

David Amos, Associate Professor of Law, City St George’s, University of London

Paul McKeown, Barrister, Associate Professor of Law, City St George’s, University of London

Professor Tawhida Ahmed, City St George’s, University of London

Lord Hendy KC (Honorary Professor, Faculty of Law, UCL)

Professor Lutz Oette, Faculty of Law, SOAS University of London

Dr Mayur Suresh, Reader, Faculty of Law, SOAS, University of London

Dr Angela Sherwood, Professor, School of Law, Queen Mary, University of London

Dr Andrew Woodhouse, Professor, School of Law and Social Justice, University of Liverpool

Dr Vidya Kumar, Senior Lecturer in Law, School of Law, SOAS, University of London, UK

Dr Josh Bowsher, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Sussex

Professor Violeta Moreno Lax, Professor of Law, Queen Mary University of London

Michael Bartlet, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, SOAS University of London