This video from Britain says about itself:
The Flowers To Fairford Demo held at Fairford US airbase on March 22nd 2003 is infamous now because the British state abused it’s powers by turning back coachloads of demonstrators from London who wanted to take part in this peaceful demonstration against the war in Iraq.
These photographs show that there was absolutely no threat of serious disruption by the demonstrators whose main aim was to lay flowers at the main gate of the base in memory of those who had lost their lives up to that point. The police presence on this small demo was completely over the top and designed to intimidate protesters.
Look out for the police photographers who seemed hell bent on capturing everyone for their records, I hope they got my good profile!!
By Solomon Hughes in Britain:
Yanking the chain a little tighter
Thursday 03 September 2009
Ministers feared the 2003 demonstrations at the Fairford airbase “getting out of hand,” leading to “unhelpful media coverage” and damaging relations with the US.
After pressure from the US embassy, ministers called in anti-terrorist police to deal with the protesters, according to documents I obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.
After defence and Home Office ministers involved anti-terror police, Gloucester officers used anti-terrorism powers to stop protesters reaching the Gloucestershire RAF base used by US jets to bomb Iraq.
In 2006, the Law Lords ruled that the police illegally imprisoned demonstrators on the coaches and violated their human rights by refusing to allow the protest to go ahead.
The government worries are revealed in correspondence between defence and Home Office ministers. In February 2003, before the outbreak of war, defence minister Lewis Moonie wrote to Home Office minister John Denham asking for extra policing at the air base.
Moonie makes clear that the US embassy was behind the demands for squeezing British protesters.
He says: “My purpose in writing to you is to alert you to the fact that in the coming weeks RAF Fairford, a NATO standby base made available to the US visiting force, is likely to become a focus for increased anti-US demonstrations.”
The US put pressure on Moonie, who wrote that “concerns remain, especially on part of the US authorities, who also see RAF Fairford becoming a focus of increased protester activity.”
Moonie reveals that US authorities were already involved in planning policing not just of the Fairford base but also the wider Fairford area. …
After raising the extraordinary prospect that US soldiers might kill protesters, Denham was very keen to clamp down on the protesters.
The draft says the government should look at ways to make sure that “protesters will be dealt with by British personnel in British uniforms rather than American personnel.”
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Dear Kitty. Some blog 