UK arrests Tibetan pair for waving flag at Xi Jinping motorcade

[jimmy olsen]

Beyond shameful. 

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/oct/23/activists-condemn-arrest-tibetan-pair-waving-flag-xi-jinping-met-police-chinese-president

Activists condemn arrest of Tibetan pair for waving flag at Xi Jinping motorcade

Met accused of overreacting for arresting women outside Mansion House in London, where reception was being held for Chinese president

Peter Walker
@peterwalker99

Friday 23 October 2015 10.57 BST

Dissidents from China and Tibet have accused British police of significant overreaction after they were arrested under public order laws and had their houses searched following peaceful protests against the visiting Chinese president, Xi Jinping.

Shao Jiang, a survivor of the Tiananmen Square massacre now based in the UK, said he was shocked to be tackled by police after holding placards in front of Xi's motorcade in London, and to learn his home had been searched and computers seized while he was in custody.

"It feels like it was when I was in China," Shao told the Guardian. "Then, every time I was arrested the Chinese police would search my rooms and take things. It reminded me of that."

Tibetan exile groups have also reacted with anger after two women were arrested shortly after Shao for waving a Tibetan flag near Xi's car, and had their homes searched while they were under arrest.

The lawyer for the arrested women – Sonam Choden, 31, and Jamphel Lhamo, 33 – said in 40 years of legal experience he had never heard of police arresting people who were protesting peacefully for conspiring to contravene section 5 of the Public Order Act, which concerns harassment or threatening behaviour.

The Met police has reacted strongly to the accusations. In an unusual step, it released a statement from the officer in charge of policing Xi's visit, Commander Lucy D'Orsi, saying she was "disappointed" at suggestions the force was trying to suppress legitimate protest at the instigation of China.

Police say they believe Shao and the women had been conspiring to commit threatening behaviour; all three reject this claim.

The arrests took place on Wednesday afternoon as a motorcade carrying Xi and David Cameron arrived at Mansion House in London for a ceremonial banquet. Video shows Shao being tackled forcefully by officers as he stood near the cars holding two small placards. Choden and Lhamo were arrested soon afterwards while waving a flag.

Shao's wife, Joanna Zhang, dismissed the idea that the trio were planning to threaten anyone. "That's complete nonsense," she said. "He was on his own, doing nothing apart from holding two A4 sheets of paper, one saying 'End autocracy' and the other saying 'Democracy now'. He was standing there peacefully when the police attacked him."

Zhang said she went to a police station on Wednesday evening to bring her husband new clothes and returned home to find Met police officers had searched the address in her absence, seizing two computers, an iPad and a USB stick.

"It happened when I was at the police station, but they never told me they were doing this," Zhang said. "I only knew because the computers had gone and there was a warrant paper on my desk."

Neither she nor her husband knew what police were looking for on the computers, or when they would get the possessions returned, Zhang said. "The warrant paper had a phone number on it, but they had left the wrong number," she said.

"It's quite shocking. We went into exile in 1997, first to Sweden and then the UK, and life exile has been quiet so far," she added. "I never imagined that what happened to us in China could happen here in the UK."

The two Tibetan women also had their houses searched and computer equipment seized while they were in custody. Their lawyer, Bill Nash of BSB Solicitors, said the pair had been arrested for "a peaceful and what many would see as a legitimate non-violent protest concerning the treatment of their country by the Chinese regime".

Nash added: "Despite the fact that no one suggests that any violence was contemplated or offered, a decision was taken to further arrest for an offence of conspiracy to contravene section 5 of the Public Order Act of 1986. In over 40 years of legal practice I have never previously heard of an arrest for such an offence.

Police said in a statement they had reason to believe the arrested women were connected to Shao and that all three were conspiring to commit threatening behaviour. However, Tibetan groups said this was not true.

"This was a spontaneous protest, and there was no link between the Tibetan women and Shao Jiang," said Padma Dolma from Students for a Free Tibet. "It's simply not true for the police to say they were conspiring to do anything threatening. In our experience that is a common police tactic to stop people protesting."

Shao tweeted a photograph of his bail conditions, showing he is not allowed within a mile of Heathrow airport; the prime minister's country residence, Chequers; or within 100 metres of Xi, to "prevent further harassment of the victim".

The Met said Shao was initially arrested after entering a "secure area" around the motorcade, and officers then suspected a link between him and the Tibetan activists. All were arrested under common law to prevent a breach of the peace, before "further information" led officers to suspect an offence of conspiracy to commit threatening behaviour under the Public Order Act. All three had been bailed until a later date, it added.

The subsequent statement by D'Orsi said she felt some reports intimated the police were "working to the bidding of the Chinese to suppress protest". She continued: "The policing of the state visit was a matter for the Metropolitan police service nd any other suggestion is wrong. My team and I have worked tirelessly to facilitate peaceful protest throughout the state visit.

"The assertion that political manipulation of the command team or, indeed, the broader Metropolitan police took place is wrong and doesn't reflect the facts."

[Liep]

Same thing happened here when Xi visited. Trade agreements > basic civil rights.

[crazy canuck]

A similar thing happened here in the 90s during the APEC conference held in Vancouver.  The main venue was at the University of British Columbia.  Along the route into the university there were a number of student protestors.  One law student standing behind the security fence but in sight of the road where the leaders would pass by in their motorcades was displaying three signs that said, "Human Rights"  "Free Speech" and "Democracy".  The RCMP officers in the area initially did nothing when they say him because after all he was doing nothing wrong.  But shortly before the motorcades were going to pass by a senior RCMP officer saw the law student and told him to take his signs down.  The student asked why he should do such a thing and after another short exchange was arrested, strip searched at the jail cells and then held in custody for 14 hours.

During the inquiry into all the incidents which occurred that day the RCMP explanation was that the signs posed a security threat because they blocked the field of view and could be used as a projectile.  Those explanations were not accepted by the Commissioner holding the inquiry.  There was no risk to a field of view for the RCMP and there was no chance the signs (made of cardboard) could have been used as a projectile.

Some tried to assert that the PMO of the day (the Liberals under Chretien were then in power) had directly ordered the RCMP to remove signs or anything else that might embarrass the foreign leaders.  But the truth, as found by the Commissioner was, I think, more disturbing.  There was no evidence of a direct order from government but the RCMP were acting in a manner they thought would be in accord with what the PMO would have wanted them to do.

The incident in the UK is strikingly similar.  The police position is,"The assertion that political manipulation of the command team or, indeed, the broader Metropolitan police took place is wrong and doesn't reflect the facts."  But it is likely that one would find that the police actions very much reflected the attitude of the government about how signs of protest should be dealt with.

[mongers]

Thanks for that CC; a timely reminder that police aren't just susceptible to being politicised by politicians/the establishment, but can also politicise themselves hoping to ingratiate themselves with politicians.

[Richard Hakluyt]

Liberty has been declining here in the UK for my entire adult life. I'm not shocked by these arrests, I expected them.

[Baron von Schtinkenbutt]

The incident in the UK is strikingly similar.  The police position is,"The assertion that political manipulation of the command team or, indeed, the broader Metropolitan police took place is wrong and doesn't reflect the facts."  But it is likely that one would find that the police actions very much reflected the attitude of the government about how signs of protest should be dealt with.

When you stack the bureaucracy with "right-thinking" people, overt manipulation of events is rarely if ever needed.

[Syt]

[Jacob]

A similar thing happened here in the 90s during the APEC conference held in Vancouver.  The main venue was at the University of British Columbia.  Along the route into the university there were a number of student protestors.  One law student standing behind the security fence but in sight of the road where the leaders would pass by in their motorcades was displaying three signs that said, "Human Rights"  "Free Speech" and "Democracy".  The RCMP officers in the area initially did nothing when they say him because after all he was doing nothing wrong.  But shortly before the motorcades were going to pass by a senior RCMP officer saw the law student and told him to take his signs down.  The student asked why he should do such a thing and after another short exchange was arrested, strip searched at the jail cells and then held in custody for 14 hours.

During the inquiry into all the incidents which occurred that day the RCMP explanation was that the signs posed a security threat because they blocked the field of view and could be used as a projectile.  Those explanations were not accepted by the Commissioner holding the inquiry.  There was no risk to a field of view for the RCMP and there was no chance the signs (made of cardboard) could have been used as a projectile.

I have it on good authority that inquiries are a useless waste of money. I'm not sure how to reconcile that with what you're saying here...

[Valmy]

Liberty has been declining here in the UK for my entire adult life. I'm not shocked by these arrests, I expected them.

Hey! You are still reasonably free to do anything in Britain that does not make anybody uncomfortable.

[Martinus]

Speaking of illiberal arrests, has the case of Stephan Templ made it across the pond?

[Richard Hakluyt]

The method used by the police on these Tibetans is a common modus operandi by the police in the UK now. They use a dubious charge to make an arrest and electronic equipment is seized. The "suspects" are quickly released on bail while the police make a leisurely study of their computer gear. Who knows what might be on their hard drives? With luck there will be evidence of a "hate" crime, some BDSM porn or details of some vague conspiracy. If not the (often damaged) equipment is returned to its owners, after a year or so, and the charge quietly dropped with no apology.

It stinks.

[The Brain]

I love England, but this hating freedom stuff is one of the British things I find offputting.

[Monoriu]

I love England, but this hating freedom stuff is one of the British things I find offputting.

London is an extremely lovely place.  Fresh air, blue skies, excellent food, friendly people.  This piece of news has not affected my impression of the UK in the slightest 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8awVJ619gtI

[Admiral Yi]

The method used by the police on these Tibetans is a common modus operandi by the police in the UK now. They use a dubious charge to make an arrest and electronic equipment is seized. The "suspects" are quickly released on bail while the police make a leisurely study of their computer gear. Who knows what might be on their hard drives? With luck there will be evidence of a "hate" crime, some BDSM porn or details of some vague conspiracy. If not the (often damaged) equipment is returned to its owners, after a year or so, and the charge quietly dropped with no apology.

It stinks.

Send this in to the local fishwrap's letters to the editor Tricky.

[Eddie Teach]

I love England, but this hating freedom stuff is one of the British things I find offputting.

London is an extremely lovely place.  Fresh air, blue skies, excellent food, friendly people.  This piece of news has not affected my impression of the UK in the slightest 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8awVJ619gtI

I'm sure Chinese endorsements don't affect Brain's impression in the slightest either.