Friern Barnet Summer Show Incident
The press coverage on the Friern Barnet summer show incident, when Barnet Alliance for Public Services were prevented form having a stall and had their banner stolen reminds me of a similar attempt at political gagging a few years ago, when Barnet Council wanted to ban the Hendon Labour Party from having a stall at the Grahame Park fun day festival. After some legal research I found the law report of a case, (from the 1970s I think) which said that political parties are community organisations and as such cannot be banned from having a stall at such events, when a council had tried a similar prohibition before. Guess who were the then defendant offending council ? None other than the London Borough of Barnet, clearly with repeat amnesia when they went for the same trick again! They had to back down and the stall was permitted. It seems this has again been forgotten or overlooked in relation to this event, as I cannot see that BAPS would be in an any different legal position. As for the banner, the police and courts have been very tough on riot looters who took goods of far less value. Surely they should be dealing with what appears to be an open and shut case here, too?
