Statement condemning the MPS's arrest of four legal observers on 16th March

The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers condemns the arrest of four legal observers from Black Protest Legal Support by the Metropolitan Police on Tuesday 16th March. Legal observers are vital independent witnesses, helping to prevent abuses of power by the police at demonstrations by monitoring the way protests are policed. The UN Human Rights Committee has stated that Legal Observers “must not face reprisals or other harassment…if an assembly is declared unlawful or dispersed, that does not terminate the right to monitor” (UN Human Rights Committee General Comment No.37).

The Legal Observers arrested were dressed in hi-vis jackets and were noting down information about police arrests in notebooks when they were themselves arrested. Despite being clearly identifiable as legal observers the police chose to arrest them. It appears clear that these arrests were in order to prevent such monitoring, and to allow the police to escape any potential accountability.  We note that three of the four legal observers were from Black, Brown and Racialised Groups.

It is becoming a common course of behaviour that the police abuse the Coronavirus regulations to prevent protest, alongside attempts to legitimise inappropriate use of aggression and violence against protesters. It is imperative that legal observers are recognised as carrying out their independent, objective and vital function at protests and are not made a target for excessive use of police powers.