Quakers in Britain have strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship by a gang of Met Police officers last night, which they describe as “a direct result of stricter protest laws removing virtually all routes to challenge the status quo”.
The police, some armed with tasers, forced their way into the Quakers’ Westminster Meeting House and arrested six women campaigners who were meeting peacefully in a hired room – the first time in living memory that someone has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house, according to the religious group.
Police smashed the front door of the building without warning or attempting to gain peaceful entry first by simply ringing the bell. Young people’s anti-genocide group Youth Demand have also condemned the ‘insane’ assault on free speech and peaceful assembly, in a video statement by one of the young women at the event – who reported that police had seized laptops and phones despite only being there for supposed ‘conspiracy to commit public nuisance’. Three of the women remained in custody this afternoon.
Hellbound and Down 