On March 26th 500,000 people took to the streets to stand up against the cuts which are destroying our lives. One of the protests that day was ‘Occupy for the Alternative’ called by UK Uncut, where hundreds took part in a sit-in protest at Fortnum and Mason – Royal Grocers, and Tax Dodgers of £10 million per year, highlighting the hypocrisy of the Government who say that the cuts are ‘fair’ and ‘necessary’ whilst letting big business and rich individuals avoid about £20 Billion of tax per year.
Despite the protest being in a shop open to the public, and after assurances by the police that no one would be arrested, 145 people were arrested. 139 of these were then charged with ‘Aggravated Trespass’. Activists were loaded into coaches and taken to police stations across the city, where their phones and possessions were taken ‘for evidence’ and many even had their clothes taken – not to be returned for months. Many were treated terribly, and all were held in the cells over night and into the next evening. 145 people spent 23 hours in a sterile white room with no company except the police who had lied to them, and humiliated them. Lynne Owens, the Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, has admitted that the arrests were used for intelligence gathering purposes.
I AM SPARTACUS!
In July, 109 people had their charges dropped. Even the Crown Prosecution Service didn’t think it was worth the resources to try and prosecute 139 people so instead they picked a handful to make an example of. The remaining 30 were put into 3 trials, one in November 2011, and two others in March 2012.
In August, in an unprecedented move of solidarity, 21 of those who had their case dropped announced “I Am Spartacus!” by reviving their case and demanding that either all the cases are dropped or everyone gets a fair trial!
Meanwhile District Judge Snow got hold of the case. Snow’s heart is as cold as his name. In recent times he has purposefully taken on many of the protest cases, from the student protests, March 26th and now Occupy, and takes pride in giving harsh sentences.
FIRST TRIAL
The first trial, of 10 people, started on the 10th of November 2011 nearly 8 months after the occupation of Fortnum and Mason. For the alleged offence of Aggravated Trespass, it is required to prove both trespass and an ‘additional act’, which in this case the crown claimed was ‘an intention to intimidate persons’. The prosecution failed to show any evidence for an act that any of the 10 defendants did that was allegedly showing an intention to intimidate, and after even the prosecution’s witnesses, including a chief police officer, said that the protest was ‘sensible’ and ‘good natured’.
After a tense few days of deliberation from the judge, he announced a guilty verdict for all ten defendants. Snow’s closing speech was chilling, as he applauded the principles of the activists and talked about the importance of challenging and engaging in the system, “but within limits” then proceeded to convict them. These “limits”, it is apparent, are created by the powerful and are used to protect the status quo and to quash the right to meaningfully protest.
The decision to convict was absurdly based on joint enterprise, and the decision is being appealed to the High Court, probably sometime before the other trials next March.
The sentence was 6 months conditional discharge for all but one, who got a £215 fine (different because of a breach in a previous conditional discharge), and all ten has to pay £1000 ‘towards prosecution costs’ – the judge took no account of differences in individual’s abilities to pay. So that leaves the defendants collectively in £10,215 of debt for taking a stand (or a rather a seat) against unnecessary and unjust cuts.
WHAT’S NEXT?
November 29th is the next court hearing which will prepare for the appeal as well as hear the 21 brave Spartacuses! We hope they will be given an official Not Guilty verdict, but they could be put on trial also, along with or after the other two trials.
The appeal of the verdict of the first trial will likely be in January or February 2011 and the second and third trials are due in mid and late March 2011 respectively.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
- You can send messages of support to support@fortnum145.org, come along to protests and events as the appeal and other trials approach; write to your MP; join the campaigns against the law of aggravated trespass, and of joint enterprise; and find out more at fortnum145.org or email campaigns@fortnum145.orgfor more information on this.
- You can donate to help fund the campaign and support the defendants with travel costs and other expenses – this trial is hurting the pockets of the defendants as well as every UK taxpayer. You’ll also be helping to stand up for the basic right of citizens to protest. You can find details of how to donate atfortnum145.org/donate
- The best act of solidarity is to not let these attempts to punish protesting discourage you. Take a stand against the cuts and all the injustices in our society, fight for equality, occupy for the 99% and don’t let them stop you!
- The Fortnum145 arrests and convictions are just one example of a crackdown on the rise of protests since the cuts were announced last October, with many receiving much harsher sentences.
See http://fortnum145.org/ for more information about the campaign and how you can help.
Written anonymously by Fortnum and Mason defendants.