Tough break for Blair and his dreams of a police state. Another good day for democracy...real democracy.
Peace protesters and civil rights groups celebrated an "enormous victory for free speech" after the House of Lords condemned the police for preventing a demonstration outside an airbase used in the Iraq war.A Frisbee...how dangerous.
Hours before American B-52 bombers took off from RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire in March 2003, 120 opponents of the invasion were travelling from London in three coaches to protest outside its gates.
A few miles away they were stopped by police who confiscated a Frisbee and a bag of toy soldiers during a two-hour search. Their coaches were then sealed and escorted in convoy, without even allowing lavatory stops, back to London.
The High Court and Court of Appeal have already said police acted unlawfully. They won a further landmark ruling yesterday when the Law Lords unanimously concluded that police violated their right to lawful assembly and to freedom of expression, which was "an essential foundation of democratic society".
