[IMC-Editorial] Iraq protest - Article and News Release

[Peter Tatchell]

Hi Indy Media Editorial,

I am seeking some advice on sending you articles and news rleases.

I am a leading British anti-war, gay and human rights campaigner.

www.petertatchell.net

You can also see references to my campaigns by going to the The Guardian
newspaper website and inputting my name into the search facility

www.guardian.co.uk

Please advise me:

I want to start sending you articles that I write for posting on your
website.

What email address do I use?

What are rules re copyright and payment?

Also, I want to start sending you regular news releases on my campaigns
(about one a week at the most). See sample below.

Will you accept these?

To what email address do I send them?

Are there any special procedures or rules?

Warmest regards and solidarity!  Peter Tatchell

London Police let Tatchell walk free - again

No charges over anti-war ambush of Tony Blair's limousine

London, UK - 3 April 2003

Police announced today they will take "no action" against gay human rights
campaigner Peter Tatchell over his ambush of Tony Blair's limousine in a
central London street last month. Mr Tatchell had been due to report today
to West End Central Police Station.

Mr Tatchell was arrested for "breach of the peace" and "causing criminal
damage to the Prime Minister's car". He denied both charges, insisting his
protest was "peaceful and caused no damage".

During his arrest, the front number plate on the Prime Minister's limousine
was damaged and left hanging by a single screw.

Commenting on the police decision to not charge and prosecute, Mr Tatchell
said:

"The police must have viewed the television footage and decided there was no
case to answer. Yet again I walk away a free man. It is amazing that after
nearly 1,500 human rights protests over the last 38 years I have only one
conviction".

On 12 March, Mr Tatchell threw himself in front of the Prime Minister's car
in a Suffragette-style anti-war protest, forcing the vehicle to brake. It
halted just six inches from his legs.

Standing in front of the Prime Minister's stalled limousine, Tatchell held
up a placard, clearly visible by an irritated Mr Blair, which read: "Arm The
Kurds! Topple Saddam".

"I was protesting at the refusal of the British government to arm the Kurds
and other Iraqi opposition groups to empower them to overthrow Saddam
Hussein", said Tatchell.

The ambush was an embarrassing breach of Prime Ministerial security.
Tatchell slipped through an anti-terrorist security net, foiling police
surveillance units and motorcycle escorts. It took 30 seconds before the
Prime Minister's bodyguards got out of their vehicles and wrestled Tatchell
to the ground, and a further 90 seconds before they finally pulled him clear
of the car.

Commenting on the reasons for his protest, Mr Tatchell said:

"Why aren't we arming the anti-Saddam opposition? They want to depose the
dictatorship in Baghdad and are desperate for weapons. The West armed
Saddam. It is now time we armed the Iraqi resistance. They want to liberate
their country. Instead of invading Iraq and imposing a US-backed puppet
regime, we should help the Iraqis free themselves".

"With military help, like Russia and China gave Vietnam, the Iraqi
opposition can defeat Saddam's army".

Although an opponent of the American and British attack on Iraq, Mr Tatchell
has also strongly criticised the anti-war movement for "failing to speak out
loudly against Saddam's human rights abuses and offering no alternative
strategy to end the tyranny in Baghdad".

"The Left's do-nothing stance borders on appeasement. It colludes with
Saddam's oppression, and is a shameful betrayal of Iraqis struggling for
democracy and human rights", said Mr Tatchell.

Photos: ISF News Agency, Gary Trotter, 01628 542 554
Film Footage: Associated Press TV, Martin Benedyk, 07802 206 327
                         Independent film maker, Tom de Keyser, 07734  460
032

Further information: Peter Tatchell 020 7403 1790

ENDS