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Police
made 7 arrests at approximately 07:00 this morning
(11.12.02 ). The London Information Bureau of the
DHKC (Turkish Peoples' Revolutionary Front) was raided
at 05:30, and 2 arrests were made there. It is unknown
where the other arrests occurred but it is likely
that people were picked up at their home addresses.
The
majority of the detainees are being represented by
specialist firms of solicitors who can deal with the
anti-democratic provisions of the Terrorism Act. However,
at least one of the detainees had his fingerprints,
photograph and DNA taken prior to seeing a solicitor,
being interrogated or charged with any offence.
One
of the detainees has been arrested on suspicion of
offences under sections 11, 12 and 15 of the Terrorism
Act 2000, i.e., membership of a proscribed (illegal)
organisation, support of a proscribed organisation
and raising finances for the purposes of terrorism.
It is unclear what the other six have been arrested
for.
PATA
calls on all supporters and progressive people to
call Paddington Green police station on 020 7321 8550,
and request to speak to the custody sergeant and/or
the duty inspector. Please say that you are a concerned
citizen and wish to enquire after the welfare of the
detainees, and express your desire that they are treated
well.
Let
the police know that the public will not stand by
while people are criminalised under these repressive
and unnecessary laws, and that the public are monitoring
the progress of the investigation. The police can
hold these detainees for up to 48 hours before they
need a warrant of further detention (which gives them
till approximately 07:00 on Friday 13th), BUT people
are only supposed to be detained for as long as is
NECESSARY.
PATA
demands the release of all political prisoners, including
those held under the Terrorism Act 2000 and those
interned under the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security
Act!
PATA
demands the repeal of these unjust laws, and an end
to the racist and divisive legislation, policies,
and rhetoric from the British state!
People
Against the Terrorism Act,
18:20, 11.12.02
•
In
the early hours of Wednesday 11 December, 7 people
were dragged from their homes, arrested and detained
under this government's most repressive piece of legislation,
the Terrorism Act 2000. Dawn raids were also made
on the office of the exile Turkish socialist DHKC
Information Bureau. 6 of those men and women have
now been charged with offences under the Terrorism
Act (membership of an organisation which is banned
by the Terrorism Act) and are still being held NOW
at Paddington Green police station.
The
only "crime" of those who have been arrested
and charged this week was to oppose the Turkish Government's
well documented role in the imprisonment and torture
of thousands of political dissenters and to organise
support for Turkish political prisoners who are staging
a hunger strike in protest at their torture - a hunger
strike, which has been kept hidden by the British
media and which so far has cost 100 lives.
These
are ordinary men and women from our communities. Brave
men and women who are prepared to speak out and let
the world know about crimes the Turkish government
is perpetrating against their family and friends in
Turkey.
The
Terrorism Act 2000 effectively allows for people to
be dragged from their homes and detained without trial
at the will of the state for what amounts to little
more than "Thought-Crime", expressing support
for beliefs and causes that the NATO imperialist oligarchy
deem to be "terrorist".
This
is part and parcel of an offensive by the military/state
wing of big business to smash any opposition to the
US and Britain's plans for a New World Order - hegemony
with no opposition.
The
staggering hypocrisy of leaders such as Blair and
Bush is disgusting, these war criminals who have personally
authorised the mass murder of thousands in countries
such as Afghanistan, Iraq and Yugoslavia, who through
their economic policies condemn millions to starvation
and poverty and who are at this moment plotting another
genocidal war against the people of Iraq, a people
who have already suffered the deaths of 500,000 of
their children at the behest of the imperialist war-criminals
in Downing St and the White House.
These
are governments who are not only silent at the war
being waged by fascist Israel against the Palestinian
people, but who supply the very weapons and funds
required to wage that war.
At
the same time as these comrades were being arrested
and detained, Blair was pushing for Turkey, a state
that has murdered tens of thousands of it's Kurdish
minority, the very people who Blair claims to be so
concerned about in Iraq, to be given acceptance into
the hallowed ranks of the European Union. Concerns
about Turkey's appalling human rights record are now
of little concern when Blair himself is keen to copy
their methods and further consolidate the use of Turkey
as a forward base for the NATO war of expansion and
subjugation into Asia and the Middle-East.
And
yet they have the audacity to call our comrades "Terrorists"!
"First
they came for the Irish, but I did not speak out because
I am not Irish. Then they came for the Islamists,
but I did not speak out because I am not Muslim. Then
they came for me."
When
is it time to speak?
TAYAD,
Scotland
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