It would appear that the UK state is doing its damnedest to match Spain's gagging laws. Two recent cases show how the powers that be can take the law and twist and mould it to suit their own particular slant on things. One is the case of Daniel Gardonyi, law abiding activist, who faces deportation.
He was arrested during the recent Sweets Way protest but not charged with any offence. He then received a letter from the Home Office threatening to remove him from the UK as part of Operation Nexus, a joint police and Home Office operation designed to arrest and deport criminals from other parts of the EU living in the UK.The other is the case of Lisa McKenzie:
Lawyers say they believe it is the first time Operation Nexus has been used to target a law-abiding political protester rather than a foreign national offender.
Gardonyi’s solicitor, Daniel Furner, said parts of the letter to Gardonyi threatening to deport him appeared to be unlawful. “It appears that our client has been specifically and systematically targeted as a result of his peaceful, political activities in the UK.”
Perhaps we have now reached the stage where we should take the opportunity to use the coming visit of the Chinese President Xi Jinping and approach him, asking if he will raise the matter of human rights with Mr Cameron when they meet.
These two matters should not be taken lightly, precedents in law seldom, if ever, work in our favour, they soon become the norm. The right to protest peacefully is one we should never give up, however it is one the state would love to remove. Both of these cases should have all of us protesting loudly and in mass in solidarity with these two victims of state repression.
