Tag Archives: democracy

Banged up for democracy – the UK kleptocracy cannot tolerate dissent. Updated for 2026

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I spent Valentine’s Night in jail in solitary confinement for 16 hours, contemplating the fact that my lawyer said I was facing up to 14 years jail. Why?

In the UK, Boris Johnson owes his political power to and literally gets paid millions of pounds by the tax-dodging extremist right wing media billionaires.

He abuses that power via his private security corporation guards to order the arrests of the Occupy pro-democracy and anti-tax dodging protesters.

I had simply been standing silently and peacefully beside Boris Johnson’s private guard whilst he was handing out arrest warning notices to peaceful protesters on Parliament Green (in ‘Tarpaulin Square’).

I was holding a cardboard coffin placard with the slogan “UK Democracy RIP – killed by corporate billionaires”, made by Nigel Lowell. There is loads of video footage and picture evidence showing me silently peacefully protesting (see below).

This private security guard then told the police that he was “intimidated” by my doing this and that I was seeking to “intimidate him from giving evidence as a court witness” at my trumped up trial for assault in June.

Evidence is so passé …

So without a shred of evidence of any such intimidation, the police a half-hour later in pretty brutal fashion came in force to arrest me, as I was peacefully listening to the democratic discussion being held by the Occupy Democracy General Assembly on the grass.

The police subsequently arrested three more of us on the instructions of the ‘Boris Guards’, including the inspirationally peaceful Nigel Lowell and the legendary live-news journalist Lorenzo Obi Abidanas, for simply being on the Green in Tarpaulin Square.

What I think is really important to know is that it is clear that the London Mayor Boris Johnson has given the orders that anybody who dares to protest about the lack of democracy in Parliament Green are to be arrested.

But meanwhile the real 1% criminals that Johnson serves go un-arrested and indeed they pour money into Johnson’s pockets and are treated to VIP hospitality at our taxpayers’ expense.

Boris Johnson owes his political career (and his power to order peaceful pro-democracy protesters to be arrested) to the extremist right-ring billionaire media-moguls like Rupert Murdoch, the Barclay Brothers and rich Tory donors.

So when Murdoch was vilified for his role overseeing a press empire mired up to its neck in hacking the phones of the relatives of dead British servicemen, Johnson as his key political servant, instead of calling for this man to be banned from owning UK media, shamed London by inviting him instead as a VIP guest to our taxpayer funded Olympics.

And let’s also remember that Johnson rakes in a quarter of a million pounds each year from the tax-dodging owners of The Telegraph, the Barclay Brothers, who avoid UK taxes by living in the notorious tax-havens of Jersey and Monaco.

Boris Johnson is the servant extraordinaire of The Prostitute State. And he abuses his political power to crack down on those who are protesting at the corrupt hijacking of our democracy by these billionaire tax dodgers and media moguls.

We will not be intimidated!

Occupy Democracy and Occupy Rupert Murdoch Week will not be intimidated by the arrests and trumped up charges by his corporate bully-boy hired hands.

We will be back again in Tarpaulin Square with our pro-democracy monthly protest events and talks on March and at Murdoch’s HQ at The Shard from March 23rd-29th.

It is time to say no more to the calamitous destruction of the planet and the hijacking of the wealth of the 99% by the 1%. Be there if you care!

Meanwhile I continue to be on bail now for seven separate charges arising out of my peaceful protesting on Tarpaulin Square, as the police waste time investigating these ‘offences’:

  1. Accused of possessing plastic tarpaulin sheet under my arm in Tarpaulin Square at 10am on a sunny morning at October Occupy Democracy.
  2. Accused of refusing to allow police to confiscate my folded tarpaulin in Tarpaulin Square.
  3. Accused of refusing to obey instruction to leave Tarpaulin Square when instructed to do so by police as I was in possession of a folded tarpaulin.
  4. Accused of not giving my name and address when arrested for being in possession of a folded ground sheet in Tarpaulin Square (there is film footage of my actually giving them my name and address whilst being brutally taken to the ground and handcuffed and physically lifted bodily into the air and escorted in military formation to the police van by a phalanx of 30 officers including TSG at October Occupy Democracy!!
  5. Accusation of “assault” for bumping into Boris’s private security guard when I was trying to protect a peaceful protester from being attacked by the guards who had been throwing peaceful protesters over the iron fence they had erected to implement Boris Johnson’s ban on our protest. (Trial arranged for June 18th) at December Occupy Democracy.
  6. Accusation of “intimidation of a witness in a criminal trial” for standing silently and peacefully with the cardboard coffin stating “Democracy RIP – Killed by Corporate Billionaires” at February Occupy Democracy.
  7. Accused of standing on Parliament Green on Valentine’s Night at February Occupy Democracy.

All charges have been dropped for the arrest they made on me for standing in front of Mandela’s Statue at the November pro-democracy protest with a sign saying “Free Nelson Mandela”.

 

 

Donnachadh McCarthy is author of ‘The Prostitute State’ – how Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought, an Occupy Democracy supporter and former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He is currently a member of no political party.

More information:

 




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Dash to frack is an insult to democracy Updated for 2026

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There is not one square inch of our beautiful land that is desolate. We are all entitled to love the place we live in, and our love for our home and our community is worth just as much whether we live in the north of our country or the south.

Shame on those who say, don’t spoil my back garden – but do whatever you like in places far away, where people count for less!

Now I have a confession to make. I’ve never spoken before at a public rally. I’ve never even been to a public rally, this is my very first time.

But I’m proud to stand with you today because whether we frack for oil and gas up and down our country really matters. Because those with the power to decide are on the verge of dragging us down the wrong path. Because only your voices, our voices, can stop them.

For six years, I was Britain’s diplomatic envoy for climate change. Believe me, you can’t be in favour of fracking in Britain and in favour of dealing with climate change at the same time. It’s an either / or choice. Those who say it’s not are being ignorant, or deceitful, or deceiving themselves. It’s that simple.

Sometimes in politics you come to a crossroads and you have to choose. If you pretend you don’t, that’s a choice too, and not an honourable one, it’s a covert choice to stick with the status quo. This is such a crossroad.

No community in Britain will ever benefit from fracking. If a few individuals or businesses do well, it will be at the expense of their communities. Fracking at scale is intrusive, disruptive, noisy, and unhealthy. It really does turn communities upside down. Look at what’s happened in the United States.

Gold-plated promises – worth their weight in hot air

We’re told we will have gold-plated regulation to protect our communities from all those harms. It’s a hollow promise. Actually it’s a lie. It’s a lie because our regulators just don’t have the budgets, the skills, or the people to enforce it properly. It relies entirely on self-policing by the companies concerned.

We tried self-policing with the banks over there in the City. What could possibly go wrong with that?

Sometimes the interests of a community have to come second to the national interest. But there is no national interest in fracking.

Germany is showing beyond doubt that you can have clean energy, you can have energy efficiency, and you can give control over energy back to communities all at the same time without wrecking the economy.

By getting ahead of us on clean energy, our main European competitor is actually widening its lead over us. It’s time for Britain to catch up.

Let’s hear it for Repower Balcombe, showing the way, and all the other pioneers of community energy up and down Britain.

Fracking on an industrial scale won’t build us a future worth having, it would take us backwards, it would lock us further into fossil dependency. It would also turn our country into a global climate pariah.

Democracy in free fall

And this isn’t just about our climate and our energy. It’s about our democracy. What’s been happening on fracking is not democracy in action. It’s democracy in free fall.

Take the Infrastructure Bill. This odious, antidemocratic Bill would trample on rights and protections, including the ancient law of trespass, woven carefully over centuries into the fabric of our Constitution.

It would put corporate interests above the public interest. Wherever you live it would make your voice the last one to be listened to in any decision about the land and the community around you.

99% of consultees don’t want trespass watered down? I know, let’s ignore them!

An unrestricted right to dump wastes of all kinds under people’s land and houses? That’s not going to be popular! Let’s try and sneak it in at the last minute when nobody’s looking, and if people still object, I know, let’s ignore them!

People say they don’t want profits for developers fracking companies to come before their health and their environment. I know, lets ignore them! Let’s make it a legal requirement to maximize the economic recovery of oil and gas!

When I joined the Civil Service 35 years ago, ministers and officials would have resigned rather than connive at such abuses of our democratic system

In Britain today we have the forms but not the substance of democracy, and what’s happening on fracking is a symptom of that sickness. So a victory in the struggle to stop fracking will also be a victory, a crucial victory in the longer struggle to renew our democracy in Britain.

Suddenly, the tectonic plates are shifting

Most of the time in politics things are stuck. The tectonic plates don’t move very much. You may gain a few inches here and there but progress is incremental. But every now and again the plates start to slip and anything is possible. This is such a moment. It may be the only such moment we get.

The plates are slipping on fracking. Suddenly it is dawning on our representatives that the political cost of forcing it through is going to be higher than they thought.

More and more of them are taking the trouble to listen to their constituents, and to get their heads round what’s involved. They are working out for themselves what a bad idea this really is.

That’s what the members of the Environmental Audit Committee have done with their ‘Environmental risks of fracking‘ report and their call for a fracking moratorium. They have shown real courage, defying their Party machines. Let’s now show them the thanks they deserve!

But too many MPs still think it’s more important to do the bidding of those Party machines and of their corporate friends than it is to listen to the people who put them in our Parliament.

The friends of fracking, in the Coalition parties and the Labour Party, including Tom Greatrex on Twitter, are trying a bit harder to look as if they are listening. But what they are really trying to do is lock the tectonic plates back in place before they slip too far, before they make it impossible for the drilling to start.

We must keep up our fight for a fracking maratorium

So now, just as we finally see some progress, now we must push even harder. And here’s what we should push for.

Let’s stop the headlong rush, with a full moratorium now, as demanded by the Environmental Audit Committee, followed by a proper national debate. No ifs not buts, and no more opportunistic spin from those who aspire to run our energy policy after May.

While we close the front door let’s stop the Bill from forcing open the back door, with its anti-democratic provisions on trespass and householder permission and so-called economic recovery.

And let’s take off the table right now, once and for all, any possibility of self-policing by companies whose main interest is in minimizing red tape not protecting the well being of communities.

David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, Jenny Mein and the County Council you lead in Preston: please listen: moratorium now, stop the Bill, no more self-policing. Otherwise you will be betraying the people who put you where you are, and they will not easily forgive you.

Friends, over there, in Victoria Tower Gardens, is a statue of Emmeline Pankhurst. Every struggle that has made our country better has been a struggle to make Britain a country for all the people not just a privileged few.

We are struggling to give the people a voice on energy. Mrs Pankhurst struggled to give women a voice in politics. We are following in her footsteps. We can be so proud of that.

So far, those who want to frack our country into an even deeper political stupor have been able to make progress by bullying and stealth. But now at last, thanks to your courage and determination, our opponents have been forced into the open and there is a real democratic choice to be made.

Our representatives will only make the right choice if they can hear our voice. Are we today going to make our voice heard, not just here on the street but inside the thick walls of that Palace over there?

Let’s make the biggest noise, every one of us, let’s make the biggest noise we’ve ever made in our lives.

 

 

John Ashton is one of the world’s leading climate diplomats, an independent commentator and adviser on the politics of climate change, and a founder of 3EG. From 2006-12 he served as Special Representative for Climate Change to three successive UK Foreign Secretaries, spanning the current Coalition and the previous Labour Government.

This text is an edited version of a speech given by John Ashton, the UK’s Special Representative for Climate Change between 2006-2012, made on 26 January at a public rally outiside Parliament, Westminster, London. It is based on an edited transcript originally published by Responding to Climate Change.

 

 




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London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day Updated for 2026

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Last evening I when I returned for the Day 3 night shift at Occupy London, I was confronted with violent mayhem.

Forty peaceful sitting protestors were surrounded by a three deep circular kettle of 150 police, with screams renting the air.

There were 3 man snatch-squads forcibly removing the non-violent protestors from within the kettle, one by one.

I saw one young man having his face forced into the muck, as riot police-officers hands grappled his throat, as they handcuffed him.

What was their crime? To sit peacefully in Parliament Square discussing the capture of Britain’s democracy by the rich and its disastrous consequences for social and environmental justice, on a plastic tarpaulin.

Night-long harassment

Eventually when they were all removed, they confiscated the tarpaulins and frog-marched off in an extraordinary warrior-like formation two-by-two.

It was 8pm by then and we simply convened our democratic assembly and continued with the peaceful protest. The event led to jocular demands for the launch of The Tarpaulin Revolution!

We were constantly harassed all night long with the farcical declaration by Boris Johnson’s main representative at the scene declaring that “cardboard was sleeping equipment” and therefore illegal to lie on in the square.

This followed their ruling the previous evening that plastic bags used to shelter our legs from the rain were also “sleeping equipment” and so illegal in Parliament Square.

The harrassment went on almost all night long but we managed to negotiate each attack peacefully without any further threatened arrests.

Russell, cheers for all the pizza!

Russell Brand arrived near midnight kindly laden with pizzas and drinks, and I had an interesting conversation with him about revolutionary versus evolutionary politics.

Thankfully it was a mild and dry night and having survived the full scale assault and persistent harassment, Occupy Democracy London greeted the beautiful dawn unfurling our reclaimed “Real Democracy Now!” banner opposite Westminster’s Parliament once more.

And finally some of the mainstream press arrived including Reuters and the Evening Standard. We relayed to them how badly Boris’s Johnson’s vicious and farcical attempts to squash Occupy London compared to the fairer treatment of the Occupy Central protesters in Hong Kong.

Jenny Jones, the Green Peer, arrived with flasks of tea and immediately promised to demands answers from both Boris Johnson and the Metropolitan Police, for an urgent explanation for the reported aggressive attempts to harass the peaceful protesters.

Despite the police clampdown, numbers doubled

We were delighted that despite all the above, numbers prepared to spend the sleepless Day 3 night had doubled from the previous Day 2, with people outraged at what they were seeing on Indymedia.

So please people, come today and help build momentum for this peaceful protest for real democracy in Parliament Square, that the Occupy London heroes have fought so hard and peacefully for.

Let us show Boris Johnson that his brutal travesty of ‘policing’ will not close down this week-long series of positive talks and lectures on Britain’s broken democracy.

 

 

See also: ‘Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!!‘

Information on the Occupy Democracy week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA has been one of the Occupy London participants this week. A former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats, he can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385619

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

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Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the week-long democracy Occupy Democracy forum!

 

 

STOP PRESS – Day 2: ‘London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day‘.

 

 

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

STOP PRESS – Day 2: ‘London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day‘.

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590

London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Last evening I when I returned for the Day 3 night shift at Occupy London, I was confronted with violent mayhem.

Forty peaceful sitting protestors were surrounded by a three deep circular kettle of 150 police, with screams renting the air.

There were 3 man snatch-squads forcibly removing the non-violent protestors from within the kettle, one by one.

I saw one young man having his face forced into the muck, as riot police-officers hands grappled his throat, as they handcuffed him.

What was their crime? To sit peacefully in Parliament Square discussing the capture of Britain’s democracy by the rich and its disastrous consequences for social and environmental justice, on a plastic tarpaulin.

Night-long harassment

Eventually when they were all removed, they confiscated the tarpaulins and frog-marched off in an extraordinary warrior-like formation two-by-two.

It was 8pm by then and we simply convened our democratic assembly and continued with the peaceful protest. The event led to jocular demands for the launch of The Tarpaulin Revolution!

We were constantly harassed all night long with the farcical declaration by Boris Johnson’s main representative at the scene declaring that “cardboard was sleeping equipment” and therefore illegal to lie on in the square.

This followed their ruling the previous evening that plastic bags used to shelter our legs from the rain were also “sleeping equipment” and so illegal in Parliament Square.

The harrassment went on almost all night long but we managed to negotiate each attack peacefully without any further threatened arrests.

Russell, cheers for all the pizza!

Russell Brand arrived near midnight kindly laden with pizzas and drinks, and I had an interesting conversation with him about revolutionary versus evolutionary politics.

Thankfully it was a mild and dry night and having survived the full scale assault and persistent harassment, Occupy Democracy London greeted the beautiful dawn unfurling our reclaimed “Real Democracy Now!” banner opposite Westminster’s Parliament once more.

And finally some of the mainstream press arrived including Reuters and the Evening Standard. We relayed to them how badly Boris’s Johnson’s vicious and farcical attempts to squash Occupy London compared to the fairer treatment of the Occupy Central protesters in Hong Kong.

Jenny Jones, the Green Peer, arrived with flasks of tea and immediately promised to demands answers from both Boris Johnson and the Metropolitan Police, for an urgent explanation for the reported aggressive attempts to harass the peaceful protesters.

Despite the police clampdown, numbers doubled

We were delighted that despite all the above, numbers prepared to spend the sleepless Day 3 night had doubled from the previous Day 2, with people outraged at what they were seeing on Indymedia.

So please people, come today and help build momentum for this peaceful protest for real democracy in Parliament Square, that the Occupy London heroes have fought so hard and peacefully for.

Let us show Boris Johnson that his brutal travesty of ‘policing’ will not close down this week-long series of positive talks and lectures on Britain’s broken democracy.

 

 

See also: ‘Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!!‘

Information on the Occupy Democracy week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA has been one of the Occupy London participants this week. A former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats, he can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385619

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the week-long democracy Occupy Democracy forum!

 

 

STOP PRESS – Day 2: ‘London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day‘.

 

 

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

STOP PRESS – Day 2: ‘London’s ‘Tarpaulin Revolution’ lives another day‘.

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the weeklong democracy Occupy Democracy forum !

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the weeklong democracy Occupy Democracy forum !

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

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Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the weeklong democracy Occupy Democracy forum !

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590

Less freedom in Westminster’s Parliament Square than in Hong Kong!! Updated for 2026

Leave a reply




Yesterday I was invited to speak about ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought’ – at the Occupy Democracy Rally in Parliament Square.

The plan was to give the talk (which went well – despite being nervous) and meet up with a friend later for dinner.

Instead I ended up being threatened with arrest not once, not twice but six times and ended up sleeping rough in the open all night in Parliament Square with the amazing people seeking to establish the weeklong democracy Occupy Democracy forum !

The first near arrest was for holding on to a placard stating that “Occupy Democracy is a drug and alcohol free zone”.

Three policemen nearly broke my fingers to take it off me, whilst refusing to tell me on what grounds a peaceful protester could not have such a placard.

The second near arrest was when about 60 of us were sitting around in a circle on the grass discussing democracy and occupy. About 40 riot police surrounded about 20 of us and kettled us in. They then threatened us with arrest for refusing as peaceful citizens to give our names.

The third near arrest happened when I helped rescue one of the peaceful democracy debaters from a snatch squad.

The fourth near arrest happened when I saw the private security guard boss who disgracefully now police Parliament Square (AOS) , indicate uglily three peaceful democracy debaters whom he wanted arrested and helped grab them out of the way.

The fifth near arrest was when I argued that the police were guilty of unnecessary harassment and making a farce of the Metropolitan Police, in seeking to wake up one of the democracy debaters who was asleep, as they claimed the plastic bag he was using to keep himself dry was “an object assisting him to sleep” and that this was illegal in Parliament Square!

The sixth and final near-arrest was this morning when the police sergeant and four policement dragged me away from Occupy Democracy for the heinous crime of holding a placard with their values:

“Peaceful non-violence
No discrimination of any sort
No drugs or alcohol on-site”

They eventually tore it off me, after I exercised peacecful direct action in seeking to hold on to it, whilst asking on what grounds it was illegal to have such a sign and the sergent tore it to shreds.

Hundreds of police – but whatever for?

There were literally hundreds and hundreds of police surrounding the democracy debate.

Then another police cordon around the squares footpaths – within which the press were banned.

Then the entire boundary of the square was surrounded by police vans.

A police helicopter hovered over-head. Hundreds more police were in vans spread all around the vecinity.

This massive over-policing and attempts to shut the democratic forum down was truly shocking and outrageous.

However, despite repeated provocation the democrats remained peaceful, and with huge help from the legal team, Occupy faced down all of the attacks and is now proceeding peacefully with talks and workshops all week, including today.

Please go and support these brave protesters today or during the week if you can.

I am now going to crash … grateful for not being in jail and grateful for helping claim this space for open demoractic debate for nine days, outside the Whore of Parliaments.

 

 

Information on the week-long protest, 17th-26th October.

Evening Standard article: standard.co.uk/news/london/occupy-london-protesters-start-week-long-demonstration-9803689.html

Donnachadh McCarthy FRSA is a former Deputy Chair of the Liberal Democrats. He can be reached via his website 3acorns.

Copies of his book ‘The Prostitute State – How Britain’s Democracy Has Been Bought‘ are available from theprostitutestate.co.uk.

E-book version available from www.Lulu.com.

 

 




385590