London police ban Critical Mass

The Metropolitan Police has had a decision overturned in
the Appeal Court that effectively makes it illegal to
organise Critical Mass, an event that’s taken place on
the last Friday of the month for 13 years, without the
organisers providing a route to the police. Jenny Jones, a
Green Party member of the London Assembly, said: "This
decision is bad news for everyone, as it will end up with
the police wasting time arresting innocent cyclists like
me, rather than arresting real criminals. Arresting
cyclists at Critical Mass will be like arresting a group of
passengers for gathering at Westminster tube station during
the rush hour." Jenny is urging as many people as possible
to join her on the ride this Friday (25th May), which sets
off at 6.30 from under Waterloo Bridge, by the National
Film Theatre.

• Manic Street Preacher: [The decision] centred around the definition of what could be called a "customary procession". Two of the judges ruled that since every ride took a different route it could not be called customary.
  
• Ellis Sharp: A child dies on London’s roads every fortnight. The Met couldn’t give a toss. London’s roads are choked with drivers chatting into handheld mobile phones. Again, the Met couldn’t give a toss. London’s residential areas are full of speeding morons. The Met couldn’t give a toss. But a couple of hundred cyclists riding around central London: the full resources of London’s police will be marshalled against them.
  
• London Critical Mass website: We're not blocking traffic; we are traffic.

Labels: uk