The veteran peace activist Brian Haw was stripped of his anti-war banners and placards by up to 50 police officers in an early-morning raid in Parliament Square yesterday.

There were chaotic and farcical scenes as police wrestled with nine dishevelled protesters led by Mr Haw, and a 40-metre line of anti-war placards, including two donated by the graffiti artist Banksy, was dismantled and dumped in a metal container. Two demonstrators, Martin McGrath and Maria Gallastegui, who tried to climb the metal container to salvage the placards, were arrested. Mr Haw claimed that officers had seized his “personal belongings” as well, including bedding, clothes and a treasured Bible.
(Source: The Independent)

Remember this article I posted up, ‘How The Police Waste Their Time And Your Money?’

Well, our wonderful bobbies are at it again!

They thought about perhaps catching some burglars, rapists or muggers. But that seemed a load of work. So they didn’t bother. Instead, 50 of them turned up to arrest one pacifist protestor and remove placards declaring that the UK government is a bunch of war criminals and mass-murderers.

How much did this police operation cost, in money and time? Why is Brian Haw such a pressing problem for the Met? Has crime in the rest of London ceased?

Brian Haw is clearly a political dissident. As much as Chinese dissidents targeted by their repressive, totalitarian government, Haw has now become a political target of the Blair junta. Nothing else can explain the immense resources targeted at silencing him. Look at this picture:

Was it really necessary for a fully-trained police officer to carry away those teddies? Are they more dangerous on the streets than the guns and knives of the villains he could have caught instead?

In London, while this shocking harassment was being carried out, I have no doubt that some people were mugged, beaten-up, robbed. Maybe worse. Perhaps those crimes wouldn’t have happened if the police acted as police and not Blair’s political minions.

And here’s another essential task the cops carried out:

There you go, we can all sleep much more safely in our beds now that peace banner has been dealth with.

Can you believe this is happening in our country? Why isn’t this the top news on every TV channel?

Click here for the Parliament Square Peace Campaign website, all the pictures in this post were nicked from this Indymedia article.