Use Phone, Get Arrested on London’s Tube
Here’s a fascinating blow-by-blow account of David Mery’s arrest in The Guardian. Mery was minding his own business while waiting for a train:
The train enters the station. Uniformed police officers appear on the platform and surround me. They must immediately notice my French accent, still strong after living more than 12 years in London.
They handcuff me, hands behind my back, and take my rucksack out of my sight. They explain that this is for my safety, and that they are acting under the authority of the Terrorism Act.
He writes that “the police decided that wearing a rain jacket, carrying a rucksack with a laptop inside, looking down at the steps while going into a tube station and checking your phone for messages just ticked too many boxes on their checklist and makes you a terrorist suspect.”
September 26th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
It’s really kind of scary when people are getting arrested for not doing anything. And then having their information entered into a national database like they had actually committed a crime. Isn’t that what a police state does? Keep files on people who are completly innocent?
September 26th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
He should just be happy they didn’t shoot him.