Saturday's protest is just the beginning!

SUPPOSING the authorities announced that under a new law it would be illegal to do anything at all in Worthing, if the police said so.

But, in response to public outrage, the local police chief insisted that his officers were sensible people and would not actually arrest anyone for doing anything that would not normally be seen as a crime.

Would that be acceptable?

And yet that is pretty much the situation we are in today, with draconian powers imposed on much of the town centre, plus Homefield and Victoria parks, but police stressing they will not be abusing them.

This is not how law and justice is supposed to work. Where's the accountability? Who is policing the police? Why should we have to take their word for it that they will not misuse powers they should never have been granted in the first place?

That is why we are not "reassured" by the messages being put out by police, as others may have been - there is a crucial point of principle at stake here which transcends the qualities or intentions of the individuals involved.

And that is why the protest on Saturday is not the culmination of the campaign against the Section 30 order imposed on Worthing - it's just the beginning!

The Porkbolter have posted the following report on Saturday's protest:

Well done to the dozen or so supporters of the Worthing Freedom Campaign who picketed Worthing police station in Chatsworth Road on Saturday in protest at the draconian Section 30 order imposed on the town. 

That particular spot does not actually form part of the Dispersal Order zone, so police could not have tried to use the powers against the protesters - but, to be fair, they did not give the impression they wanted to anyway. 

As well as the main protest, to which the Worthing Herald sent a photographer, some people decided to help out the police by chalking lines on pavements around town showing where the Section 30 zone begins. 

Passers-by in Warwick Street were alerted to the existence and handed information leaflets. Needless to say, there was general incredulity that Worthing is deemed deserving of these highly unusual policing measures. 

Evidence is now suggesting that it is the Tory admininstration at Worthing Borough Council, rather then the police themselves, who are the main players behind this attack on our freedom.