[kj] Don't Look

[Brendan Quinn]

Just read this properly now...that's scary shit. 

Interestingly, was trying to get some second opinions about
www.zeitgeist.com, a lot of waffle about how thin and ephemeral the
references were...but not much solid outright contradictory evidence either.
Need to spend a LOT of time checking the veracity of some of those claims,
suppose that's one thing that can be counted on these days...most people
simply don't have time & energy to question the status quo.

Will be easier for the cops to search you when everyone is microchipped of
course...

-----Original Message-----
From: gathering-bounces at misera.net [mailto:gathering-bounces at misera.net] On
Behalf Of Change
Sent: Saturday, 6 October 2007 2:24 a.m.
To: A list about all things Killing Joke (the band!)
Subject: [kj] Don't Look


Seized At Gunpoint For Looking At Cops

Disabled men entered onto terrorism database
indefinitely after detention and 
questioning

Steve Watson
Infowars.net
Thursday, Oct 4, 2007

Two disabled men from Bournemouth, England were seized
from a pub at gunpoint by 
police under the terrorism act, taken to the local
police station and questioned 
for 45 minutes after one of them opened his mail and
the other looked at a 
police officer.
The Bournemouth Daily Echo reports that Bob Hamlen,
47, and Michael Burbidge, 31 
were dumbfounded when approached by officers in a beer
garden overlooking the 
security checkpoint at the entrance to the Highcliff
Marriott Hotel where top 
British politicians are currently staying for the
annual Labour Party 
conference.

Mr Hamlen told reporters:

"We were treated like terrorist suspects.... It was so
over the top, there 
were about eight officers around us asking questions
which was very frightening.

"We told them we lived round the corner and this was
our local pub. But, while 
an armed officer pointed his gun at us from the other
side of the street, they 
made us empty our pockets and put all our possessions
on the table. Then they 
checked all our credit cards and documents.

"I was carrying my disabled bus pass but it didn't
make any difference. I 
needed to go to the toilet and an officer went with me
in case I escaped. After 
radioing through the information, they asked us to
accompany them, in separate 
police cars, to the police station."

Mr Hamlen also made it clear that he has arthritis and
brittle bone disease 
and has been registered disabled for five years, while
Mr Burbidge has been 
paralysed all his life and relies on a wheelchair and
crutches to get around.
The two men hardly fit the description of hardcore Al
Qaeda terror suspects, 
but then that does not matter because everyone is now
a suspect under the 2000 
terrorism act.

Mr Hamlen continued:

"They said the reason I was being taken to the police
station was because I 
had been seen passing a white envelope.

"But all I did was take my post out of my jacket
pocket and open an 
electricity bill.
"On Michael's stop and search form they said they
wanted to speak to him, 
under the Terrorism Act, because he had been looking
at a police officer.

"That area of town is saturated with police officers
and, from where we were 
sitting, it would have been impossible not to be
watching one."
The men were then taken to the police station and
questioned for 45 minutes. 
After this the police asked the two men to take them
to their flat so they could 
search it. When the search turned up nothing out of
the ordinary police decided 
the two men posed no threat and returned them to the
pub.

Mr Hamlen and Mr Burbidge, who have lived in the area
for many years, say they 
feel violated and are demanding an official apology.

Though the two were not arrested or charged they were
issued with stop and 
search records which will be placed on the UK stop and
search database and kept 
there indefinitely, as per standard procedure.

Under section 44 of the terrorism act of 2000, police
were granted the power 
to stop and search anyone without the need to show
that they have "reasonable 
suspicion" an offence is being committed, providing
the stop takes place in an 
area designated as a potential terrorist target.

Currently, however, the whole of London is covered by
the powers, meaning the 
stops can happen anywhere in the city.

Furthermore section 45 states:

45. - (1) The power conferred by an authorisation
under section 44(1) or 
(2)-(a) may be exercised only for the purpose of
searching for articles of a 
kind which could be used in connection with terrorism,
and
(b) may be exercised whether or not the constable has
grounds for suspecting 
the presence of articles of that kind.
Under the rules, officers have been told to avoid
"racial profiling" and "not 
to focus on specific groups". The advice adds: "Be
aware that there is no 
specific racial, ethnic, sexual or religious profile
for terrorists."

Christopher Gill, chairman of the Freedom Association,
has previously 
commented: "These laws are terrifyingly wide ranging,
and fail even to demand 
suspicion in order to stop someone and thus list them
for life.

"They are being over-used, and innocent people are
having their records marked 
as a result. The police are supposed to protect the
innocent from the guilty, 
not smear their records arbitrarily."

Incidents of Stop and search have risen dramatically
recently in the UK, so 
much so that senior police officials are now
questioning the validity of the 
law.

Last December the UK's senior counter terrorism police
officer questioned the 
value of stop and search powers, noting that very few
arrests or charges arise 
from searches.

In February, Met Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair
vowed to review the use of 
terror stop and search powers after a Metropolitan
Police Authority report said 
it was causing "untold damage" to certain communities.

Police even refused to accept enhancements to stop and
search powers earlier 
this year, declaring them "unnecessary" and arguing
that such measures were 
counter-productive as they erode public trust. Such
enhancements would have 
given police the power to ask an individual who they
are and where they are 
going. Under the proposed legislation, withholding
such information would be an 
offense punishable with a £5,000 fine.

Even the United Nations has warned that it fears the
Counter-terrorism laws 
are rapidly turning the United Kingdom into a police
state.

The case of Bob Hamlen and Michael Burbidge, just one
of thousands, clearly 
demonstrates that terrorism laws are being grossly
misused by police in the UK. 
If there really were such a huge concern over
terrorism we would see an effort 
to protect our freedoms and enhance our open society,
rather than the all out 
attack on civil liberties and the erosion of rights
that we continue to face.

YOUR RIGHTS UNDER SECTION 44 (Courtesy Liberty):

. The police can only give you a pat down, remove
outer clothes (eg jacket, 
hat), search your bags and have you empty your pockets
. You do not have to give your name and address
. You do not have to explain why you are there
. You are not allowed to flee the search, but you are
not required to be 
actively compliant. You are allowed to 'go limp' as
passive resistance during 
the search if you wish not to comply
. There is no permission to collect DNA data during
the search
. You do not have to comply with any attempt to
photograph or record you
. Women cannot be touched by male police during these
searches
. Make notes about the officers searching you - name,
number and police force
. Note the time and the events preceding the search
. Note the specific wording used by the police to
explain their authority to 
search you
. Ask the police for the reason that they are
searching you. Specifically, are 
they searching for terrorists or are they simply
trying to deter, delay or 
inconvenience you?


INTERZONE
http://www.augustineleudar.110mb.com/Interzone.htm

RTX, Kristin Hersh, Githead, Shellac, Michael Gira & the Dirty Three
interviewed here:
http://www.perfectsoundforever.com

Polysics interviewed here:
http://www.cultcargo.net


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