Wearing masks to become a crime

Coppers are never satisfied. Even though the 'right' to street protest, for long considered a fundamental part of 'democratic society' and a 'human right', has been more curtailed in this country than anywhere else in Europe (ironically, it's now easier to demonstrate in Red Square than in Trafalgar Square), the cops are now calling for protesters to be locked up for burning flags and for covering up their faces:

"Police chiefs are urging the government to make flag-burning a new criminal offence, as part of a drive to crack down on Islamic extremists and others preaching violence and religious hate, the BBC has learned.

The proposals also include action to ban demonstrators from covering their faces to avoid police scrutiny, and tougher powers to arrest demonstrators seeking to inflame tensions. "

Of course, the political police has been photographing and videoing demo participants going way back to the 70s. I remember being on anti-war demos in Hyde Park in the 80s and barely-disguised Special Branch goons were even then wandering around the crowd with enormous video cameras on their shoulders filming everyone in sight. It's now routine for the cops to photograph anyone who has the temerity to carry out public protest, whether or not it could even be remotely linked to 'terrorism'. Recently, a fellow Watford fan, who's a good way to the Right of the political spectrum, wrote on our discussion list:

"I've also today visited a "climatechange" camp today near Drax Power station in Yorkshire. The police there were perhaps 12 vehicles, 40 men. To watch
50/ 60 hippies/ idealists. The purpose of my visit was to drop my daughter off. They took several photos of me, my girl and my car - RIGHT IN MY FACE."

So now he and his daughter and the assembled hippies and crusties will be in the political police's burgeoning database, and with face recognition technology almost ready for deployment they'll be trackable wherever they are if there's a CCTV camera in the vicinity. Isn't it wonderful to live in a free country, eh?

You can say what you like (as long as it doesn't "glorify terrorism" or "incite" in any way) on blogs and discussion fora and letters to the editor and toilet walls, but the State isn't right bothered about that because written expression maintains the figleaf that this is a free speech society and at the same time has sod-all practical impact on the masses. Take your message to the streets, though, to try to change people's minds en masse, and you become a threat to the State and have to be surveilled six ways from Sunday, and if you look at all dodgy, or if the cops are just having a bad hair day, you can find yourself arrested under laws supposedly brought in to tackle terrorism [1] and stalking [2].

Essentially, the only demos that are allowed these days are large set-piece events planned weeks in advance, the timings and routes of which are rigidly controlled by the cops who'll then photograph and video everyone in sight, which is kind of handy for them as it increases their database mightily without them having to lift a finger. It was, though, always legit for someone to cover their face for fun, or just to avoid being photographed, but now the cops are saying that you can't even do that unless you want to be locked up - the cop's right to spy on everyone takes precedence over the not unreasonable civil right to remain anonymous. It's only a matter of time before they demand the names, addresses, photos, DNA profiles, inside leg measurements, and personal histories of demonstrators before a demo takes place - it's a logical extension of what they've asked for, and been granted, up to now, and of course they'll get their way, as ever, under the catch-all guise of 'fighting terrorism'. Not that this is a police state of any description - hell no, perish the thort, the police are just asking for 'reasonable powers' to 'protect the public' and 'fight terrorism'.

Ah, freedom. As some over-rated authoritarian once said, freedom is so precious that it has to be rationed, and right now we're living on a starvation diet.

[1] "Blair laid bare: the article that may get you arrested", Henry Porter, Independent Online 30/10/06.
[2] "Protest as harrassment", George Monbiot, 22/2/05

"Flag-burning could become crime", BBC News online, 28/10/06