G20 police demand ID as train staff ordered to spy on passengers

no legal basis for the request.......

"A spokesman for Scotland Yard said there was no legal basis for the request, but that people would get through barriers more quickly if they had the two forms of identification".

Erm...........pardon ?

If I were going

to protest, I wouldn't take the train - might arrive too late to join in.

Seriously, though, have they forgotten our freedom of speech? And is it any concern of the train companies where their passengers are going? They don't care when I've got an important meeting that contributes to the UK economy....

Mine's the one with the logo on.

Why inform BTP?

What will the British Transport Police do to a group of people travelling to London?

"I'm sorry Sirs, you'll have to come with me. We don't want no civil disobedience in our town!"

This is really not good

So in Britain today you can be reported to the police if you are: "Groups of travellers wearing noticeable themed clothing, for example same large logo or coloured shirts etc"

I know the "If you've nothing to hide you've nothing to fear"-brigade will say that folks like me are over-reacting, but I find this so deeply troubling. The British people (and many others, I freely admit) are sleepwalking in to something very dangerous. Exactly what "it" is is hard to predict. But I do predict that it's not good.

Wake up and do something.

no legal basis

Surely if the requirement to provide ID isn't legal then the checkpoints that demand that ID aren't legal either.

Great codename

Glencoe was the scene of the largest massacre of civilians in British history when the English government, using soldiers and local quislings (Campbell's) tried to exterminate a local clan they they perceived as not loyal enough, killed 38 men, and had a further 40 women and children die of exposure.

Are they planning to crack some heads together?

No legal basis?

Id like to see someone challenge this in a court of law. Is it really legal to say we will make it hard for you to get to your house if you don't produce two forms of ID which we have no right to ask for and are even willing to admit that?

If they have no legal right to stop you walking to your house and walking to your house is not suspicious activity so they have no right to conduct a search or stop you in any way, in which case people should just walk straight past the police and ignore their requests for ID, as they have already admitted they have no legal right to ask for it! It surely isnt legal for the police to harass you because you are not carrying ID they know you don't have to carry or show to them.

Crazy, everyone should walk around without ID and keep leaving and coming back. Who do these people think they are.

actually

It just reads like a bag o' shite, someone needs to shot or taught proper grammar.

On the plus side, having been told to dress down to work for the next few days I suspect based on this list that I fit the description they're looking for, should blend right in :)

Groups?

"Groups of travellers wearing noticeable themed clothing, for example same large logo or coloured shirts etc

Any noticeable groups who are believed to be traveling [sic] to London

Any groups carrying banners or posters

Any group bookings to London that day/s"

So if you're on a works outing, a rugby tour, off to a football match, a stag party, a hen night or God knows what else...you're fucked.

Of course any protestors wouldn't be smart enough to do something 'crazy' like, say, wear a coat or maybe have a change of shirt.

Mine's the one with no large logos or bright colours on it that's travelling alone.

Protestor Travel Advisory

We ask that all protesters are extra vigilant in their journeys to and from work on these days.

G20 Summit in London - Disruptions expected 28 March - 02 April 2009

Protesters face chaos next week with areas of London in security lockdown for the G20 summit and warnings that bankers will be doing their usual utmost to justify ridiculously overpaid jobs whilst gleefully buggering the economy, and anybody else who they can.

Protesters in the City are being advised to wear 3 piece suits and pink shirts amid fears that they will be forced to run the gauntlet of police denying them a legitimate right to protest.

On 1 April a coalition of overpaid and unethical bankers will travel from commuter belts to four major London stations - Moorgate, Liverpool Street, London Bridge and Cannon Street - potentially obstructing thousands tourists and homeless people, before marching herd-like to their day jobs.

A crack team will target the Stock Exchange attempting to completely devalue any pensions you may have managed to keep away from Gordon Brown’s half arsed ‘fiscal planning’. The ‘Guns not Food’ campaign will march on the US embassy in Grosvenor Square to provide them with a lifetime service award. Police are going to do their utmost to apply draconian anti-terrorist legislation to obstruct as many people as they can. Anyone with a beard or a swarthy complexion should be extra vigilant as random searches will randomly target them. At random.

Sorry to the mods but I think it's justified...

Papers, citizen!

groups?

Groups of travellers wearing noticeable themed clothing, for example same large logo or coloured shirts etc ??

I imagine that many of the 80000 or so heading to Wembley for the footy. I hope each and every one of them is reported to the BTP to investigate :)

Uniform

"Groups of travellers wearing noticeable themed clothing, for example same large logo or coloured shirts etc"

You'll notice lots of groups of people wearing the Stillitoe Tartan. They're very suspicious, usually of everyone else, and I think they might be some sort of gang, they all have "patches" on the backs of their jackets, showing their group affiliation, just like bikers.....

spel chequer?

Yup - from the desk of someone who doesn't bother checking their spell checker, (like I don't normally).

Paris - well, it could have been her?

Freedom, Liberty...

And this government has the gall to complain about China/Burma/Zimbabwe...

At least in those countries, the laws, rules and regulations are clear... They make no pretense to Freedom and Liberty; whereas our beloved government do...

Why all these G20 leaders can't just meet up on someone's private yacht somewhere instead of inconveniencing half of London, is beyond me.

Compare verus the land registry

Hypocricy alert Ding/Dong/Ding/Dong:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7971612.stm

So when one wants to steal a 500K house no ID is required and the government supports it outright. At the same time when wants to get home or to work in a "special area" two proofs of ID. WTF?

spell chequer

Sorry I got confused there thought I was reading the story about the twatter degreee http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/31/soshul_meejah_master_of_arts/

Other miss steaks not attributeaible to misunderestmateing the spell chucker:-

No comma after the "Therefore"

two 'to's --> passengers intending to to make their way

Anyone know where I can report a large group of men and wimin weraing wearing noticeable themed clothing, I think I have just spotted a group all weaing the same blue uniform...

Oh! Hang on, I think I see a problem....

Paris, even she can't spell gooder that what I got

One for the lawyers...

Can the police be prosecuted for a breach of the peace? If they are obstructing the Queen's Highway (or whatever the archaic form of words is) and refuse to disperse, perhaps someone should read the Riot Act to them and then call out the troops.

More seriously, they do seem to be positively *spoiling* for a fight. This can't be healthy.

Hen/Stag parties

It's common for a group of people to wear the same shirts, have the same logo, and be themed when they are going to a hen or stag do. They will also likely to make a group booking if going by train. Are such groups going to be banned also?

A title is required

"Any group bookings to London that day/s"

Wow... that's really suspicious. Sherlock couldn't do a better job...

You don't have to give your name and address...

... Nor are Police allowed to hassle you or search you *because* you decline to give your name and address.

http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/6-free-speech/s44-terrorism-act/index.shtml

And download a copy of Mark Thomas's "Don't waste my time" card from here.

http://www.markthomasinfo.com/zzz_images/CIFcard.pdf

Meine Papier? Nein, mein Herr!

ID Papers at civilian checkpoints in the UK? ... what?!

ID Papers please ... What you think its a free country, I'm sorry, this is the UK, we don't accept protesting here. One more word out of you and you're nicked. Stand there, shut up and we will check your ID Papers. Then you will be free to go on your way ... (In other words you are not free now!).

I was born in the UK, but sadly this isn't the same country I was born in.

I would love to have known what someone like Churchill would have made of all of this. If you could have tried to describe all of this to him, I suspect he would have probably thought you were talking about early 1940s Germany.

People in Germany in the early 1930s could see how their country was changing into a police state. They did nothing and then when it was getting to bad, they could do nothing to stop it. ... How long is everyone going to wait this time. (Because it is going to get ever worse, as there is no way to provide oposition to the ones in power and they don't want to listen ... its like a machine without feedback).

The Irony

Isn't it ironic that the police recently took a ballot regarding their right to protest (in the form of strike action) whilst at the same time appear to deny all other forms of protest made by the public?

Choice of name

"Glencoe was the scene of the largest massacre of civilians in British history "

Which either says a lot about the ignorance of history of senior Polic officers or a lot about their hopes for how this event will turn out.

But here's a question. Will the plod be under the scrutiny of the London Police Authority (IE Bozzer Johnson) or her Wackiness the Home Secretary?

@ac -What the hell is US English anyway?

It's the better version of UK English; wanker.

if they had the two forms of identification

yes, an uzi in one hand and an ak47 in the other...and you thought us stupid 'merkins love our guns too much....ha ha ha ha ha

Not entirely surprising though

It's only a week or two since that front page headline in the Guardian that the police were "expecting" violent protest this summer. I can't be the only one who thought "Ah, right, police are *planning* a summer of aggro " - it looks like they're just getting in a bit of early practice.

None of which excuses in the least degree what they're doing, of course, but WTF do they or their bosses care about that. Another nail in the coffin of our free society.