Action Against The Police

Update 8th July 2019: My solicitor wrote me with correspondence from Merseyside Police denying liability and enclosing a number of documents in support of their denial. He said “Most of the reasons given by the Officers in their Defence to your complaint were indeed unsustainable.  The banners/flyers do not amount to any Public Order Offence. Unfortunately, neither Article 10 nor Article 11 ECHR confer an over-riding right to expression, association or assembly on private land and in light of the Notices (which we have now seen for the first time) from ACC Liverpool Group and Kings Waterfront Estates Limited, both dated 13 September 2018, forbidding any protest or demonstration on their land it appears we must regrettably conclude that the Police did indeed have the power to tell you to stop your protest and move you along. I understand that you will feel aggrieved to have been singled out in a situation where other groups were displaying banners and leafleting and were not being moved on by the Police, but that fact in itself would not form the basis of a successful civil claim. I think it is most likely, in light of the Notices of 13 September, that the Court would conclude that the Police were entitled to direct you to protest in the designated area ‘off site’ and not to affix your banner to any part of the private land. I must regretfully advise that you now discontinue this claim. ”

So I lost the court action because the police presented this:

It gives them the right to stop people displaying banners at Labour Conference because the pavement outside the Conference Centre is private land. So I lost the case.

My lawyer said “Hence a Court is most likely to conclude that the Police were entitled, pursuant to the landowner’s direction, to instruct you to protest or otherwise express your views in the designated area or not at all on private land. That remains the case even if you were singled out and others (such as the Marxist) were not.” Well, that’s £1,000 well spent!

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Update – April, 2019: Some of you may recall that last year at Labour Conference, Merseyside Police stopped me from displaying my cartoon banner showing Netanyahu calling Corbyn an anti-Semite. I wrote the story up here. Before I could progress a claim against the cops for breaking the law, I had to exhaust their complaints process, which took five months. I have now contracted with DPP Law to pursue a claim for compensation against the police, citing their breach of Article 9, 10 and 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights. The rozzers are now lying through their teeth to escape justice, but I have four witnesses.

Any compensation I gain I shall use to pay legal fees to challenge the IHRA definition in the courts, help pay ET and litigation fees for myself and others, etc. My solicitor reckons I have good prospects of success. You can read the compensation claim letter to the police of 5th April 2019 from him here. They have 90 days to respond.

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5th September 2018: Merseyside Police were so angry with campaigner Pete Gregson displaying his Latuff cartoon banner at Labour’s 2018 Conference that they almost arrested him. However, they were not bothered about all the other banners on display. Here is the image Pete used on his banner, at some 2 x 2 metres:

Read the full story here.

Giving out Flyers at Labour Conference: Pete Gregson, a Stamford Hill rabbi, Jack Thomas, Rabbi Beck, Chris Birchall.

Israeli soldiers stopped Muslim speaker Issa Amro from flying to Conference to address a Fringe Meeting about how best to secure peace in the Middle East. The event is still on this Tuesday night, since his Jewish colleague, Miko Peled, has been able to get out of Israel for this. The Stamford Hill Rabbis opposed to the IHRA are coming too

Mr Gregson, safe at home in Edinburgh after his day at the Labour Conference in Liverpool

Mondoweiss, in Detroit, USA, who commissioned the cartoon from Latuff, say it can be reproduced as necessary; no copywright permission required (they are on 240-516-6636 or email here)

UPDATE

On 15th March 2019, DPP Law agreed to take on Pete’s case against the Merseyside Police with a civil action against Merseyside Police for breach of the Human Rights Act (specifically Article 10 ECHR). His lawyer believes he has good prospects of success with his claim. Pete has exhausted the internal police complaints procedures, whith the police denying throughout that they acted improperly in any way. Pete hopes to use any payout he can secure from the police to supplement other legal costs he incurs; the fundraising website at www.tinyurl.com/legalihra has not yielded a great deal thus far. There is a 3-month period now during which Merseyside Police has in which to respond to the threat of court action. Thus it will be mid-June before we can issue them with a summons…