Hello dear reader,
It’s been a while since I last wrote anything substantial for this blog, but having somewhat recovered from spending three months on the side of the A41 and from the events surrounding our eviction from Camp Autolift it’s time to get writing.
So…
Following the county court’s arbitrary decision that we should vacate the site ‘forthwith’ and their apparent failure to take further action, we decided that the only prudent thing for us to do was to continue the construction and development of our camp (once we’d recovered from our bouts of flu) so that we might be better prepared for winter if necessary.
This we proceeded to do until, on the morning of 25th September, we were given notice by a court bailiff that the bailiffs would be out at 12.30 the following day to remove us from the site. Prajna quizzed her as to whether violence would be used to remove us and she vehemently denied it, saying “Oh no! We never use violence”. Prajna persisted and asked if they would use ‘reasonable force’. Her response was to ignore the question and to avoid eye contact. In typical disingenuous and cowardly fashion the female bailiff concerned stooped to accusing Prajna of raising his hand to strike her when he gestured that she needed to attach her notice to the nearby lamp-post rather than to our door frame. Thankfully PC Dave was there to witness her dishonesty and promptly ushered her away from our make-shift home.
We spent the rest of the day making preparations for the upcoming eviction, ensuring that our most needed items were moved from the camp in advance.
The following morning we were visited by our friend Angus, who’d come along to see if he could help with the removal of our things before 12.30. And thank goodness he was there! At 9.30 the police turned up to arrest Prajna on the spurious excuse of non-payment of fines, working in collusion with the magistrates court and the local council.
Prajna was violently arrested and taken away in cuffs fastened so tightly behind his back that he was crying out in pain. I also cried out when I saw just how tightly he’d been ‘restrained’. As is our habit when dealing with ‘officials’, particularly those who claim ‘authority’ over us, we recorded the whole event.
Prajna was taken directly to the magistrates court where, upon arrival, he asked to see a doctor. This request was repeated many times in response to the police and court staff going through their admittance procedures, during which they removed his hat and mala, even though he informed them that these form part of his religious beliefs and practices. I’m sure I don’t have to explain that in removing these items they breached their own codes of practice regarding respect for religious and philosophical beliefs.
Each time Prajna declined to respond to their questions an officer standing behind him twisted the handcuffs, imagining that inflicting pain would make him comply. All it served to do was to elicit more cries of pain and further insistence that a doctor attend.
Eventually Prajna was locked in a cell, still restrained by the horrifically tight cuffs – the cause of the pain for which he was insisting on seeing a doctor – and still without his hat.
He remained locked in that cell for several hours, unable to sit, which caused him even more pain, unable to ring the buzzer for attention, unable, even, to take a pee! Needless to say this treatment goes against all of their so called ‘laws’ and codes of practice regarding torture, restraint and the treatment of those in their custody.
Eventually Prajna was asked if he would like to see a solicitor. “I need to see a doctor!” responded Prajna.
After some time Prajna was put back in the cage in the back of a police van and taken to the A & E department of the Countess of Chester hospital, still in cuffs. At this point Prajna was in so much pain that, as the hospital staff asked their standard questions in their busy reception, he had his head on the reception desk as he explained that the cuffs were being used to torture him, that no agency in the UK has authority to torture anyone, and that he needed a doctor to examine his wrists to witness that the cuffs had been applied in such a manner as to inflict pain, suffering and compliance rather than for restraint (even restraint has to be justified in the circumstances; there are no circumstances that authorise the use of torture). Added to this was the offence and affront to his religious and spiritual practices due to being paraded in public without his hat.
The handcuffs were removed just a minute or two before the triage nurse came to examine him, so that she was not able to observe how they had been applied, only that they had caused injury, which she noted for the record.
Following the medical examination the escorting police chose not to reapply the handcuffs. If they were necessary up until that point what had changed at the hospital to mean they were no longer required? One of the escorting officers stopped in front of Prajna as they were leaving the hospital and said, “Listen, you are no longer a ‘freeman’, you are in the custody of the court service and you will do what you are told!” “I am a freeman, in the custody of a lawless and corrupt agency!” replied Prajna, “and I will only comply with you demands because you threaten me with more pain and suffering if I refuse.”
In the police car en route back to the court (they decided that it was not necessary to put Prajna in the cage in the back of the van) Prajna quizzed the officer in the seat next to him about his police oath. “Oh, that was years ago.” replied the officer, “I can’t remember it.” “If you can’t remember it then how can you be sure you are acting in accordance with it?” asked Prajna. “I can’t remember the boy scout promise either,” responded the officer, “but that doesn’t mean I can’t wear a woggle.” I hope that reply shocks you as deeply as it does us!
Prajna was returned to the magistrates court and to his cell. At some point in the afternoon a guard came to take him before the judge, at which point Prajna discovered that they could not force him to do so. So, given that he’d established that they were no longer going to inflict pain on him to gain his co-operation, he chose to remain in his cell.
Some time shortly after 5pm, Prajna’s cell was opened and prisoner escort officers arrived to remove him to the prison transport. He was not told the outcome of the case, what was happening or where he was being taken. It wasn’t until his arrival at Altcourse Prison that he discovered he’d been sentenced to 7 days for non-payment of fine. Our subsequent research leads us to understand that the imposition of a custodial sentence in these circumstances was itself unlawful!
Prajna spent just two nights in prison and was released on the Friday morning.
In the meantime…
I was placed in the position of dealing with the bailiffs and the eviction alone… Well, when I say alone what I actually mean is with the support and encouragement of many friends, all armed with video cameras.
After the collusion between the police, courts and council had resulted in Prajna being removed from the camp myself and Angus set to work calling friends to alert them to the mornings events and removing anything from the camp that might be construed by ‘them’ as unlawful or illegal.
I was, naturally, shaken-up and upset following Prajna’s arrest, but also prepared to deal with the bailiffs in a fitting manner.
By the time the bailiffs arrived (at approximately 12.40) I was sitting as calmly as possible next to the Dhuni fire, whilst most of our friends filmed events from the pavement next to the camp and across the road.
One friend, Andy, stayed in the camp and opened the doors to the bailiffs when they called. I have to say that the court bailiff who spoke to me was as sympathetic and understanding as he could have been. He introduced himself and explained why he was there and then asked if I was ‘Kazz’. I explained, and he listened, that I am the living woman commonly called by the utterance ‘Kazz’, that I did not recognise him, that I did not recognise or accept his jurisdiction and that I granted him no authority over me. I also explained, for the benefit of all the dozen or so ‘officials’ there at the time, that anything they did with regard to the eviction was on their full, personal, liability.
The bailiff then asked if I would leave of my own accord and, upon questioning from me, explained that he would ‘enforce’ the warrant of eviction no matter what. I told him that I would not leave of my own volition but that I would not resist any force he offered.
He then went and spoke with a female colleague and the two of them returned and led me, gently, from the camp onto the pavement.
My assembled friends and I then watched as bailiffs and council staff (including the so called ‘gypsy traveller liaison officer’ who claimed to work for the council, but who we’ve since discovered may well be misrepresenting herself, in breach of the Fraud Act 2006) began packing up our belongings and dismantling the camp.
Satisfied that they were not going in with bulldozers and were going about the operation in a reasonable manner, and keen to discover what had happened to Prajna, I then set off for the magistrates court. There I discovered that Prajna had been sent down for 7 days and that, though he was still in the cells in the basement, I could not see him.
I did manage to get a message to him, thanks to the lady security guard whom I’d sympathised with on the way in (she looked as if she was having as bad a day as I was at the time). Relieved that Prajna knew I was OK and he didn’t have to worry about me, but upset that he’d been given 7 days and generally exhausted and distressed, I went off to spend the night with friends Adam and Jen.
Once again, the support and love of friends flowed. Adam, Jen, mike, Danny, Niall and so many others, thank you!!
Our friend Niall phoned the prison while we were at Jen and Adams, and could hear Prajna’s voice in the background giving the prison staff a taste of what it is to live in truth. 😉
Currently Prajna and I are in Liverpool and are making plans to return to Cheshire, probably next week, where, at least in the short to medium term, we will set-up camp on a friends land. And from there we will begin the process of bring those agents responsible for the…
UNLAWFUL:
Seizure of our mobile home;
Destruction of our mobile home;
Destruction of our personal belongings;
Detention of Prajna following the seizure of our home;
Failure to comply with the PACE Codes of Practice;
Fraudulent actions of the council and other operatives (i.e. Misrepresentation)
Arrest of Prajna on the morning of eviction
Torture/inhuman treatment of Prajna
Imprisonment of Prajna
and very possibly, collusion between agencies in breach of the Data Protection Act and acts ultra vires (beyond their authority).
… to book for their actions.
Our research is going very well atm, and we’ll very soon be taking action on all of these counts and any others which are revealed as our research continues. This blog will continue for as long as it takes to do that.
Taking a look around at the state of the world, at the extent of corruption within the system and at the massive abuses being perpetrated on ordinary people from so many agencies of The State, and the extent to which anyone who challenges their authority is ignored and rail-roaded, we have come to the conclusion that we, and others from within this ‘freedom/truth movement’, need to go on the offensive. And that we will certainly do!
We have been peaceful in all that we have done; we have been insistent and consistent in claiming our rights and despite all of that we have been made to suffer many torts and injuries. But remedy comes after the fact and remedy we shall now seek.
Finally, we’d both like to say a massive thank you to all of those who visited and supported us at Camp Autolift and to all of those friends whose friendship, love and support continues to flow. We really have made some remarkable friends over the last three months or so, to add to those magnificent souls we already counted as friends.
Your support, intelligence and kindness has been a tower of strength to us (especially me! – Not sure I could have taken another week at the camp to be honest, but it was your help and kindness that got me through three months there). Thank you!
In peace and with much love,
Kazz and Prajna. xxxx
