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Getting Sane With The Campaign

Marshmallow | 03.08.2006 07:52 href="http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/regions/london/" title="((i)) London Independent Media Centre.">London

News of New Protest Camp in Westminster

Campaigner Mark Kemp and other homeless folk have recently occupied some land in Victoria. The exact location is given below*. Mark runs the Independent Victims Helpline, and is operating the space for independent victims support, but also, given it's proximity to the Westminster Exclusion Zone, the Department for Justice and Constitutional Affairs and Westminster City Council, also for protest and banner making.

Mark is campaigning for equal right of notification on release for victims of violent crime. Under the 2005 Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act, victims of violent attacks enjoy the right to be notified by the authorities if their original assailant is released or escaped. Victims need to know this so that they can be sure an individual isn't released into their own community. But under the terms of the legislation, the right only applies to victims of attacks that took place after July 2005, which means that the vast majority of victims are not protected equally.

Mark knows about this from his own life experience: having been the victim of a horrible knife attack by an escaped mental patient in the early 90s. The attacker was placed in Broadmoor mental hospital, but he and his family were later horrified to find out through [via the tabloids] that his assailant had escaped and was potentially at large in the present area. Thankfully the assailant was captured six days after his escape, but subsequent to this the authorities managed to mix Mark [who is white] up with his attacker [who is black] and generally make his life hell. He has been independently campaiging for victims for a number of years, but since the 2005 Act has turned his attention to ensuring the law is changed: he wants to ensure that the protection contained in the Act applies retrospectively to ALL victims of violent attacks, and not just those that were assailed after July 2005.

Mark is also campaigning in solidarity with others against the ban on free protests within Westminster, and intend to continue to protest, and support other protestors, within the Exclusion Zone. Come along and join us before your actions!

Such as the one seen. when I handcuffed myself to the railings of 10 Downing St in a recent action, much to the confusion of the cops. On the day, they attempted to arrest someone else for my SO-CALLED "crime" but ]we bamboozled them with our strategy of jointly doing autonomous actions..

they want everyone else to be accountable, identifiable sanitizable but them, everyone made accountable but force of capital.

Blair should be impeached, tried, better still sectioned under Mental Health legislation!

This action has come about because Mark has become determined to turn the many bad things that have happened to him, as a result of being a victim of violent crime, and then, later, a victim of the state's incompetence and prejudice, into something good, and noble, and for the people.

"sense subposted to be common "

Everyone is very welcome to come and visit the camp.

*The Protest Camp is located between Victoria Street and Seaforth Place, SW1, located behind the main Westminster City Council building and also the Department for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, on Victoria St - behind Sainsburys and near the Albert pub.

Marshmallow

Additions

Comments on Pictures

03.08.2006 09:26

TheMagna Carta Action: Call for a New, Inclusive, Revolutionary Constitution

Mark Kemp being questioned by the coppers after handcuffing

Headless Copper with Mark's Campaign Placard: Equal Rights for All Victims!

Mark and Bike Cop

Mark Kemp's Independent Victims' Helpline ID

Cop Confused and Accusing the Wrong Guy

Some Photographs of the action mentioned. On June 15th 2006, after the 30+ mile march from Runnymede, one activist - in a Tony Blair mask - burned the Magna Carta and called for a new written constitution in front of a French school class [pictured] outside Downing Street, while at the same time Mark Kemp handcuffed himself to the railings of 10 Downing Street, much to the confusion of the cops, who later attempted to arrest the Magna Carta burning activist for the crime of handcuffing to the railings. The cops were mostly confused by the fact that the two autonomous actions were carried out simultaneously, but also because the activists were in possession of police handcuffs.. lessons for future anti-SOCPA actions. Photos of the protest camp to follow: viva la Revolucion!!