Day of Action : January 28th

On Friday 28th January, there were protests against the identity card scheme in London, Liverpool and Manchester.

In London, protesters from Haringey Against ID Cards held a picket of the Home Office. Placards including "Resist ID Cards" and "No to the Big Brother State" were displayed and hundreds of leaflets opposing ID cards were distributed to employees and people visiting the Home Office, many of whom seemed supportive of the protest.

In Liverpool, protesters created orange mock identity cards (see picture above) which they distributed, along with information about the identity card scheme, under the swivelling gaze of the city centre's cctv cameras. You can read more about the Liverpool protest on IndyMedia.

In Manchester, protesters visited the offices of PA Consulting Group and Siemens Business Services to draw attention to both the ID scheme and the companies that stand to make a massive profit from this gross infringement of our civil liberties.

Manchester Defy-ID representative Tim Stockton told journalists:
“The only way we’ll be able to stop this vile scheme is if ordinary people have the courage to stand up to the government and these companies and say enough is enough. Everyone has something that they want kept private, and this scheme is going to expose all our day to day activities to surveillance – not just by the state but by private companies too. We will have to resist this scheme when it becomes law and that not only includes refusing to register or carry a card, but includes targeting the companies who will make millions from the government spending taxpayers money on something we don’t want."

On Saturday 29th January, the "Ministry of Truth" visited Manchester city centre equipped with cctv, displays about ID cards and leaflets. You can read more about the Manchester protest and the Ministry of Truth on IndyMedia.

 

Protesters outside the Manchester offices of Siemens Business Services

Protesters outside the Manchester offices of PA Consulting Group

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