Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Long arm of the law grasps challenge with caution: "Aamer Anwar, a human rights lawyer representing the G8 protesters, feared legal niceties would be thrown out of the window if a riot erupted, and that it could prove difficult and costly to call English and Welsh officers to account.

Many Scots are uneasy about the long arm of the law reaching several hundred miles further north.

'It's about the style of policing as well as the legal differences,' said Frances Curran, a Scottish Socialist party MSP and organiser of a protest rally against the G8.

'Met officers and the like running about Perthshire will create huge tensions. We're told they'll receive full training in Scots law but we think any protester arrested by an English or Welsh officer will have grounds to question that arrest.'"

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 10/06/05

SSP pledge to exercise democratic rights, accuse SNP; "Bravehearts become Fainthearts"

The Scottish Socialist Party today confirmed the pledge made by West of Scotland MSP Frances Curran to exercise the right to protest at Gleneagles. Appearing on Newsnight Scotland, Frances said that no matter what she will be exercising her right to peacefully protest against the policies of the G8 governments who are meeting at the Gleneagles hotel.

All 6 of the SSP's MSP's are committed to exercising their right to peacefully demonstrate at Gleneagles.

There will be a meeting of G8 Alternatives, the organisation which the SSP is a part of, to decide a national strategy on Tuesday 14th June with a lobby and press conference at the Scottish Parliament on Thursday 16th.

Frances said today;

"The movement that demands the right to demonstrate our opposition to the policies of the G8 countries does not recognise the right of a local authority to charge a price for the right to demonstrate.
"We do not accept that democracy can be charged for and we will be exercising our right to demonstrate at Gleneagles no matter what.
"This is our country and the Scottish Parliament has already passed a vote upholding the right of peaceful demonstration at Gleneagles.
"It is now up to Perth and Kinross Council to recognise their mistake and reverse their decision not to allow the right of lawful demonstration.
"If we accept the idea that there is a price on demonstrating a precedent will have been set which will allow the crushing of democratic rights for generations to come.

"The idea that there is a danger of disorder from demonstrations is monstrous hypocrisy when on the other side of the fence will sit politicians responsible for the reduction of two countries to rubble in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Turning to the decision of Scottish National Party councillors on Perth and Kinross Council to effectively ban the democratic right of people to demonstrate at Gleneagles Frances said;

"What happened to the Bravehearts ?
"More like Fainthearts.
"You can't take our freedom. unless there's a bill for it.
"The SNP are in favour of independence unless unelected local council officials tell them they can't have it

"It's a disgrace and the SNP must hang their heads in shame that they are colluding with attempts to crush the basic democratic rights of the people of Scotland and those who come here from across the world to demonstrate their opposition to the policies of the G8 countries."

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit
Press Release: 09/06/05

SSP: Democracy for sale and only the rich can afford it

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Frances Curran today said that people wanting
to protest about the fact that the poor of the world didn't have enough
money were being prevented from doing so because they didn't have enough
money.

Speaking after the meeting of Perth and Kinross Council that put a
precondition of £5 million liability insurance that will cost G8
Alternatives up to £30,000, Frances accused the authorities of placing every
possible obstacle in the way of those who wished to exercise their
democratic right to protest against the policies of the G8.

Frances said;
"This is a travesty, a threat to the democratic rights of the people of this
country; it means that democracy is for sale.
"In a civic society it is right that councils and the government waive any
financial constraints on protestors taking action.
"Children in Africa are dying because they don't have enough money to buy
food and we can't protest about it because we don't have enough money for
the liability insurance.
"I'm absolutely appalled.
"In theory we've got the right to protest but they keep putting obstacles in
our way.
"The right to freedom of assembly, of the right to demonstrate and protest
clearly comes at a price.
"Democracy is for sale and it looks like only the rich can afford it."
[ends]

BBC NEWS | Scotland | Insurance condition on G8 march: "A G8 protest rally near the Gleneagles Hotel will only go ahead if insurance cover for up to ?5m is put in place.

The condition has been imposed by Perth and Kinross councillors who want the executive to pay the cost of the premium, which could be up to ?30,000.

The G8 Alternatives group says it cannot afford the premium for the rally in Auchterarder on 6 July and branded the decision 'democracy for sale'.

Scottish Socialist MSP Frances Curran said it was a 'travesty'.

'It's a threat to the democratic rights of the people of this country,' she added.

'Children in Africa are dying because they don't have enough money to buy food and we can't protest about it because we don't have the money for the liability.'"

Daily Record

PROTESTERS staged a rally at Holyrood yesterday to demand a right to hold a demo near the G8 venue, Gleneagles Hotel.

The group, who were backed by Scottish Socialist leader Colin Fox, gathered outside the parliament to protest at the decision to block them from the roads near the Perthshire hotel during the summit. Police claim a march at Gleneagles would be 'unsafe and unsuitable'.

Eurig Scandrett, from Friends of the Earth, said: 'We are responsible people. It is our democratic right to march

"Gordon Brown is not telling the truth about what such policies will mean for Africa. Free trade is a disaster for Africa. Brown says one thing publicly and does another thing privately. How should we describe that behaviour? Is it a financial conjuring trick? Who would play a trick on the starving children of Africa? Is it just two-faced? Who would be so insincere in dealing with famine? Is it just spin? Who would use poverty for public relations? How cynical would that be?"
Frances Curran sums up for the SSP in Parliament debate on G8
Colin Fox moved the SSP's amendment to the Scottish Executive's motion on G8 in the Scottish Parliament.

Press and Journal: "Grampian Police were attacked last night for turning a video camera on delegates arriving for a G8 Alternatives meeting at Aberdeen University.

Aamer Anwar, a human rights lawyer and spokesman for the group, described the incident as 'a serious breach of their human rights' and will be making an official complaint.

Members of the group were arriving for one of their fortnightly meetings at the university when they spotted three police officers with a video camera filming their arrival.

Barry Reid and a friend were on their way to the meeting shortly before 7pm when they approached the officers.

After initially being ignored the 23-year-old Aberdeen College music student asked one of the officers why they were filming. He said: 'I remember his exact words, he said, 'we are compiling evidence'. I turned to the policeman who was holding the camera and he filmed me up and down. It's an invasion of privacy.'

He added: 'We have nothing to hide. If they wanted to send a representative to one of our meetings and find out what we are talking about that would be fine. But to film us without our permission, that's not democracy is it?'

Penny Howard, one of the organisers of G8 Alternatives, said that police officers spent more than an hour outside the meeting.

Members of Grampian Senior Citizens' Forum, university and college students along with teachers made up the 15-strong meeting."

Veil of official secrecy imposed on G8 - The Herald: "Frances Curran, Scottish Socialist MSP for West of Scotland and an organiser of the G8 Alternatives protest coalition, said she was shocked at the extent of the move. She said: 'The executive has cancelled people's rights under FoI. They have indefinitely cancelled the process of democracy and accountability because George W Bush is visiting Scotland."

SSP Research, Policy & Media Unit Press Release: 04/06/05

Kane in Cuba invites Castro to G8 Counter Summit

Scottish Socialist Party MSP Rosie Kane yesterday raised a rallying call for all those in the world opposed to the terrorism of the US state to descend on Scotland for the G8 summit at Gleneagles, specifically inviting Fidel Castro to join G8 Alternatives Counter Summit in Edinburgh on Sunday 3rd July.

Rosie was speaking at the International Meeting against Terrorism , for Truth and Justice, at the International Conference Centre in the Cuban capital Havana Rosie is the only UK participant in a gathering of more than 300 Cuban and international delegates.

Rosie spoke with Cuban President Fidel Castro in the chair immediately after the former President of Nicaragua Daniel Ortega had addressed the conference.

The three day event includes contributions from intellectuals, artists, union leaders, social activists, parliamentarians and politicians from various regions of the world. The gathering in Cuba has been organised to highlight the United States ongoing involvement in terrorist atrocities across the world from the death squads of Argentina and Chile in the 1970's to current plans to assassinate President Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.

Speaking by phone from Cuba on Saturday evening Rosie said; "I invited Fidel Castro to attend our G8 Alternative summit in Edinburgh and the demonstration at Gleneagles because it will be the first time in decades that he will have the opportunity to be within 5 miles of a US President.

"I believe President Castro has an important message for the people of Scotland and the wider world, a message of peace and co-operation between the peoples of the planet.
"President Bush and the other leaders of the G8 have plunged the world into a nightmare in which vast amounts of money are used to create death and destruction.
"Although a tiny country, Cuba is playing a vital role in Latin America training doctors and medical staff and they have offered to instigate a literacy programme for the Dominican Republic.
"In my remaining time in Cuba I will be visiting hospitals and schools and speaking to Cubans about how their country has successfully defied the might of the United States since that historic day in 1959 when the revolution triumphed."


Sunday Mail June 5, 2005, Sunday

KANE IN CUBA: I'VE ASKED FIDEL TO BE MY GUEST; WORLD WILL HEAR TRUTH ABOUT US 'WAR ON TERROR'

Rosie Kane

HERE I am, all the way from Govanhill, Glasgow, to Havana, Cuba, on my own. I've crossed a timeline for the first time and met a man who is truly awe -inspiring, Fidel Castro. For 50 years, the US have wanted him dead. But when I joined 600 other delegates to see him address a conference against terrorism, there were no burly security guards.

Wherever George W Bush goes, there are five-mile exclusion zones and sea-to -air missiles at the ready. But, in Havana, I didn't even have my handbag searched when I went to listen to Fidel He opened his heart to tell the American people that they should be his biggest allies but they were being kept in the dark about the truth.

Despite being 78, Fidel was razor sharp, talking with raw emotion. I have always believed him to be a hero and when I saw what he and his government have achieved under such adversity, he's even more so. He has been accused by America of being a dictator. But what I saw was exactly the opposite.

Cuba is a country that doesn't know the meaning of the word poverty and I had to explain to them our Make Poverty History campaign. You seein Cuba, everyone is born equal. They can vote and stand for election at 16. And they have elections every two and a half years. Hardly a dictatorship, really. And the make-do-and-mend spirit they have due to the US sanctions imposed on them has made Cuba a first- class example of recycling.

There's hardly a new car in sight. Instead, roads are filled with 1950s vehicles we would stop and stare at in admiration if we saw them in Argyle Street today. And the lack of advertising means young people are not obsessed with McDonald's or designer trainers, all the daft things of our Western world.

Cuba is training 70 US students to be doctors - free of charge. And while I was there, Fidel Castro offered to instigate a literacy programme for the Dominican Republic. He's an impetuous man who examines problems, then gets down to it. That's why I've invited him to Scotland to address the G8 Alternative. I'm hoping he will accept my invitation, not least because it will be the first time in decades that he will be within five miles of a US president.

I believe he will have important things to tell us and it will be an unique opportunity to see just who is the real dictator, who is brutally honest - and who is just brutal. I know who my money is on. When I get home, I'll be letting everyone know Cuba is asking for Bush to keep his word about not sheltering terrorists. If Bush is true to his word, he should be doing all he can to ensure Orlando Bosch and Luis Posada Carriles, who openly admit their part in the 1976 plane bombing that killed 73 Cubans, are brought to justice.

If he does not, he must stand down from his so-called war on terror. He can't pick his terrorists. The US government last month rejected Venezuela's request for the provisional arrest of Carriles, a first step that could lead to his extradition, on grounds of insufficient information And, with US help, Bosch escaped imprisonment in Venezuela, entered the US, where he was granted asylum and pardoned by President George Bush on July 18, 1990.

I watched astonished as these men admitted on TV they were responsible for the deaths of so many Cubans - yet they remain free. Are their crimes any less than those of September 11 or different from Bin Laden boasting about the destruction of the Twin Towers? If Fidel accepts my invitation, the world will hear the truth of what has been done to his people

FIRST Minister Jack McConnell has come under fire for his dismissal of allegations about "corrupt" relations between Lothian health board and Labour politicians.
Scottish Socialist leader and Lothians MSP Colin Fox claimed in parliament there was a "highly questionable and even corrupt relationship" between the health board and the politicians.
Edinburgh Evening News

Colin Fox attacks Labour in the Scottish Parliament