Arrests after peaceful protest in Gibraltar

Four people were arrested after a peaceful protest in the Gibraltar Parliament on 20 November. They sat in the public gallery and held up placards which read "Tireless out now", "We need a united front against Tireless", "We need a united stand against Tireless" and "Gibraltar must unite against Tireless".

They were protesting against plans for the nuclear powered British submarine to be repaired in Gibraltar harbour following an accident on the vessel in May. Recent reports indicate that the submarine came within minutes of a meltdown but this was not realised at the time.

The four arrested were Sarah Abecasis (Voice of Gibraltar), Bryan Zammit (United Nations Association of Gibraltar), Janet Howitt and Tom Scott (Environmental Safety Group). They were all released on bail.

The following is a press release from the Environment Safety Group in Gibraltar:

NO WARNING OR WORD OF CAUTION – BUT OUTRIGHT ARREST

The Environmental Safety Group would like to comment on the latest news regarding the arrest of two of its representatives yesterday afternoon.

Although the police were nothing but courteous and spent time explaining the reasons behind the arrests, the fact remains that four members of the public were actually arrested for merely expressing serious concerns affecting the community of Gibraltar. The protest involved a silent display of posters with statements calling for unity by all parties on the Tireless issue. It lasted less than 2 minutes and the campaigners left as soon as asked to by the police present. The Environmental Safety Group understood that this action would perhaps result in their being barred from the House of Assembly for three months. It seemed a price worth paying to use the opportunity where both main parties were discussing other issues of joint agreement and co-operation and call for a united Gibraltar on the removal of Tireless. Had they been prevented from entering or even questioned at the door before entering they could have had it explained exactly what they could or could not do.

After escorting the four representatives out of the building a policeman took note of their names and advised this was merely a formality. It was therefore very shocking, a day later, to be asked to go to the Main police station, to find that the group representatives were under arrest! No amount of discussion could deflect the police from their course and after an hour the four were allowed to leave on bail. It appears that in some yellowing ancient tomb there exists a public ordinance 80(E) that states that it is an offense to interrupt the House of Assembly. This apparently is open to interpretation, but this is what the police had over the four representatives. It also appears that evidence has to be gathered and analysed by the police lawyers……………

For what is quite a transparent event, the authorities are behaving rather heavy-handedly. The Environmental Safety Group along with the others, were given a hearing date of the 18th December. The reason for the delay of the hearing is also a mystery.

We know that the international press will be giving this latest fracturing of the Gibraltar community quite a lot of attention. We still maintain that our position is and has always been to raise awareness and focus on environmental issues pertaining to our health, safety and living environment. We shall not be deflected from this course and hope that more of the community will vocally support this campaign and resist what could be interpreted as an attempt to restrict freedom of expression.