Police have arrested 15 demonstrators at Parliament Square including, for a brief period, the Green Party politician Jenny Jones.
Jones, chairwoman of the London assembly’s economy committee and deputy chair of its police and crime committee, went to see what was happening at the Occupy London protest on Tuesday morning after her office had been contacted by protesters complaining about heavy-handed police tactics.
Jones was apparently quickly released by police because, she said, “they don’t want more trouble”.
“They shouldn’t have arrested anybody here,” she said. “They should have just listened and left them alone.”
According to its website, the goal of the Occupy Democracy campaign is to “direct the energy from current single-issue struggles into a critical mass that can radically challenge the corrupt and unrepresentative system”.
Jones is on Wednesday due to give an address to the protesters on policing and civil liberties. She went to the protest on Tuesday after hearing that the police had arrived in as many as eight vans and their response to the protest was “disproportionate”.
The swoop by police follows a crackdown on Sunday night when large numbers of officers converged on the square to enforce a “desist notice”.
Scotland Yard said in a statement on Tuesday: “This morning there were around 15 people demonstrating in Parliament Square. The group on the grassed area had been sleeping on a tarpaulin which is prohibited under the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act of 2011, namely they have items with them to enable them to sleep in Parliament Square.
“We informed them of the breach of legislation and asked them to leave, this was done on a one-to-one basis. They were told that if they failed to leave they would be removed from the site and would be liable to summons for the offence.
“The tarpaulin has been removed and 15 people have been arrested for failing to provide details suitable for a summons. They have been taken to a central London police station. Our role is to facilitate peaceful protest whilst balancing the needs of London communities and minimising any disruption. We will not take sides, but we seek to apply the law fairly and proportionately.”
