Newham council bans human rights legal observers from Olympic livescreen venue

A group of Newham Monitoring Project Community Legal Observer volunteers were today "banned" from entering Stratford Park, a site open to the general public who wish to watch the free Olympic livescreens, by security on the ground who apparently accused them of "making it easy for criminals and giving them tips" when giving out Stop and Search rights-information cards to members of the public.

Security at the park are searching people, who appear to be mainly local residents, before entering the park. NMP understands the security at this venue to be under the jurisdiction of the local council London Borough of Newham (LBN).

NMP has contacted the Head of Events and Sponsorship at LBN immediately explaining the observers' role and to raise its concerns about how security are using their powers and to challenge any attempt to block independent rights observers in their movements. As of yet no response has been received.

In a later development, legal observers on a next shift who had successfully entered the park, have reported they were approached by the Head of Events at LBN who apparently said she wanted them to leave because the rights-cards were causing "litter". The observers offered to stop handing out cards for the time being but the LBN staff member said she still wished them to leave the park. She apparently also told the observers she had been contacted by NMP earlier today. We are left wondering why LBN appear to have delayed responding to our earlier communication detailing the role of rights observers and have instead continued to ban the observers.

NMP is deeply alarmed by any attempt to curtail the movements of independent human rights observers and with it prevent members of the public being provided with rights information. We are also alarmed at any unfounded insinuation of criminality towards the local community. Our observers have simply been speaking to and providing rights cards to the public - mainly local residents - entering the park today. By alleging that our legal observers are effectively making things "easy for criminals and giving them tips" indicates a worrying mindset towards the members of the public using the park.

Launch of Community Legal Observers initiative in Stratford

Last night, some of Newham Monitoring Project's 100+ Community Legal Observers (CLOs), who will patrol the streets during this summer's Olympics to gather evidence of the misuse of police powers and provide legal rights information, met up in Stratford to launch our new initiative.

After a photo-call near Theatre Royal Stratford East, CLOs n their distinctive red tabards headed over to Stratford station to hand out NMP's new stop and search rights card.

Teams of CLOs will start patrolling this weekend, focusing on the communities close to Olympic venues  in both the north and south of the borough. Shifts have been arranged for the whole of the next six weeks.

Here are some photos  from yesterday's launch taken by NMP supporter Kevin Blowe, with more available on Flickr.

Five Reasons to Ring NMP : Countdown to the Olympics

As we enter the five day countdown before the Olympics begin here in Newham, NMP will be publishing anonymised examples of cases we have supported via our Emergency Helpline everyday. It is cases like these that show how our staff and dedicated volunteer base are able to make a difference in our community through providing 24 hour freephone emergency casework support around race hate crime and civil injustice issues. This is why we are saying if you need advice, ring us this summer.

Case 1: Mr A was approached on the street by police officers who carried out a ‘stop and account’. The police then informed him that he was in a dispersal order zone and was required to leave. Mr A, who lived locally, continued on his journey home but was approached again by police officers and arrested for “contravening a dispersal order”. He contacted NMP’s Emergency Service for support. We were immediately able to find him a solicitor who provided legal representation at the magistrates’ court and as a result, he was acquitted.

Case 2: Ms B was stopped and searched by police officers and then subjected to an immigration check. The police said they were not satisfied by her valid documents and arrested her. Ms B was then detained in custody and later released without charge, after having her finger-prints and DNA swab taken. She contacted NMP requesting support, particularly to ensure that the finger-prints and DNA swab samples were destroyed. NMP sought legal advice and Ms B was able to successfully challenge the retention of these samples.

Case 3: Mr C was arrested in Stratford late at night whilst out with his friends. The friends asked the police which station he would be taken to but did not get an answer. A friend of his rang our Emergency Service asking for help in locating him. The NMP helpline volunteer rang every custody suite in the area until they tracked him down. The volunteer was able to speak to the arrested man to check on his welfare and arrange a solicitor for him. The volunteer kept in contact with the friend overnight and called custody back every few hours to check on progress on questioning and releasing him. Mr C thanked NMP upon his release (no charges) for ensuring he wasn’t isolated and for keeping his friends informed.

Case 4: Mr D, a young Bangladeshi man, approached NMP for support because he was frequently being stopped by the police and felt he was suffering racial discrimination - during the summer, when he was in the park, he was stopped almost daily. He called the Emergency Service from the park one evening to say he could see two police officers nearby, who he thought would approach him any moment. NMP stayed on the phone with him and shortly after the officers approached him. Mr D asked the police to explain why they were stopping him to the helpline adviser, which they did. NMP was able to inform Mr D of his rights, make a note of the officers badge numbers and hear how the stop was conducted. The officers left shortly after without incident and Mr D was able to continue enjoying his time in the park. NMP successfully assisted him to pursue his longer term racial discrimination claims against the police at a later date.

Case 5: This one, we believe, speaks for itself. NMP supported this brave young man, who alleged racial abuse in the back of police van, to make his case public after the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) refused to prosecute. Following public outcry and a reviewal of the case, the CPS reversed their decision. In the two months after this a wave of cases came forward totalling 51 allegations of racism by police officers. This has now sparked a series of reviews, a number of suspensions and has resulted in senior police officers and politicians publicly renouncing racism and promising to do more to eradicate it within the force. We wait to see if anything changes, but certainly it is an example of the strength of those at a grassroots community level to have their voice heard by those in power. If you need support - call us!

NMP Publishes Submission to Home Affairs Committee

NMP has published its submission to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee inquiry into the Independent Police Complaints Commission. It argues that "the IPCC has not resolved significant and obvious weaknesses in the process and procedure for making a complaint, resulting in a system that falls woefully short in its ability to be independent, accessible or effective."

The submission is available to read below or can be downloaded as a PDF from here.