Tent with slogan 'STOP deporting Iraqis' with protesters in in 24hr Voices UK illegal Parliament Square 'Tent City' demo
Voices UK organised a 24-hour 'Tent City' starting at noon on 21 June, Midsummer Day to protest against the deportation of refugees from Britain to war-torn Iraq. Recent forced deportations have involved people being returned to highly unsafe areas, and some have been badly beaten up by police on arrival in Iraq. It was planned as an illegal demonstration in Parliament Square, at the centre of the SOCPA restricted zone, but 4 days before the event the organisers received an e-mail from PC Roger Smith saying "an appliction has been received for this demonstration and it will be duly authorised." The demonstrators believe that the police themselves applied for permission for the event to take place, to avoid having to take action against the demonstrators. However the demonstrators were still breaking the Westminster City bylaws, and 'Heritage Wardens' gave them letters to that effect and observed the demonstration.
Size: 5040px × 3347px
Location: Parliament Square, Westminster, London, England, UK
Photo credit: © Peter Marshall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: anti, authorisation, ben, big, camp, city, demonstration, deportation, houses, illegal, iraq, london, mystery, parliament, peace, picnic, police, protest, refugees, restricted, socpa, square, tent, uk, voices, war, westminster, zone
