The union labelled the arrest an ‘outrage’ and told the Met to ‘think twice’ before coming for its picket lines
The Metropolitan Police issued an apology and paid £3,000 in compensation after arresting a lawyer on a picket line outside St George’s University Hospital in Tooting. Barrister Franck Magennis was arrested, handcuffed, and searched while protesting with workers from the hospital who were striking over poor working conditions and outsourcing of staff on January 13 2020.
The cops have paid damages and apologised for unlawfully arresting me. Maybe next time they'll think twice before messing with a trade union picket line.
£5K going straight to the strike fund, nice to know the Met Police are subsidising UVW workers who go on strike. https://t.co/3nRZEqidMH
— Franck Magennis (@FranckMagennis) July 26, 2022
The United Voices of the World union claim police turned up in large numbers, distributed leaflets on behalf of the university to dispel the lawful picket and threatened workers and union officials with arrest unless they left the campus. They detained and handcuffed Magennis when he reportedly enquired about the legal basis for the warning.
The force apologised to Magennis for “the way you were treated when you were arrested, put in handcuffs and searched”, and said “the level of service has fallen below the requisite standard”. It concluded: “I would therefore like to express my regret for the distress that you have suffered as a result of this incident.”
The police also agreed to pay UVW £2,000 in compensation after it threatened strikers with arrest to break up the picket. UVW argue this was a “clear violation” of their right to picket outside their workplace. UVW had threatened to sue for breaches of Articles 10 – Freedom of Expression – and 11 – Freedom of Assembly and Association – of the European Convention on Human Rights Act.
Arrested barrister and former head of UVW’s legal department Franck Magennis said: “This victory should send the message that we know our rights and that if the police show up and try and do the bosses’ bidding, if they set a foot wrong, if they make a single mistake, we will come down on them like a ton of bricks.
“They are not to mess with our picket lines because if they do we are going to defend ourselves. We don’t tolerate cops or bosses or anyone pushing us around.”
[…]
https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/met-police-apologises-pays-3000-24597640
https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/met-apologises-to-lawyer-for-picket-line-arrest/5113244.article
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