Church and State blog: Roughing things up

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Roughing things up

The Bishopsgate City of London police are indeed roughing things up: we have narrowly escaped being attacked (as I wrote in the previous blog, Declan foresaw this new escalation of harassment and intimidation last Sunday when he woke me up and told me we had to work fast on the introductory letter to lodge our case against the UK with the European Court of Human Rights).

These are the facts. Two nights ago (Thursday night), while we were sleeping, 3 or 4 guys decided to party at our porch – the porch is situated in a business area, which is generally stone quiet after 8.00pm. During the course of this rather unconventional party, one of them roared at us, “Get up!” A few hours later, the same individual came back with one of his friends, screamed at the top of his voice, “Tramps!” as he passed us by and kicked a metal A-board pavement sign by the porch (which has been out for the last few nights) down the pavement.

Now this A-board happens to advertise fake-tan services, although there is not a tanning business in sight. So I think I can safety conclude that the board is removed during the day, only to be put back at night, perhaps as a bargaining chip? Fortunately, the individual on Thursday night decided to boot it a few feet down the pavement rather than hurl it at us. Still, last night, in addition to the A-board, there was a pallet!

This narrow escape has a special timing. Only that morning in the Whitechapel Mission a member of staff put a stop to all conversations to broadcast for the sake of the general homeless population, and in particular for the benefit of Declan (I say that because he was determined to catch Declan’s eye), that two of the homeless present – two middle aged friends who seem to be always drunk – were assaulted the night before while sleeping rough.

If Lord/Lady Justice Scott Baker’s order of 22 March (refusing us permission to appeal Judge Walker’s decision of 11 December to refuse us permission to apply for a judicial review against the Department for Work and Pensions) is so in accordance with the law, why do the police need to threaten us with assault (Declan says that he will be the one to end up in hospital)? Are they actually trying to prevent Declan from lodging our case with the European Court of Human Rights? And when this orchestrated assault is being carried out, will our bags (containing legal documentation, etc) be stolen too?

This week I am also seeing a new level of nastiness towards me in the Sisters of Mercy-run Dellow Centre and the Methodist-run Whitechapel Mission: a homeless woman moved all my things from one place to another while I was drying myself in the shower (Wednesday at 10.30am, Dellow Centre); a homeless woman took possession of the only two sinks in the women’s washroom a few seconds before I came out of the toilet, having changed my clothes (Thursday at 6.15am, Whitechapel Mission); and I was prevented from having a shower when a volunteer handed me a towel that wasn’t big enough to dry my feet, telling me it was the only one she had: shower or no shower (this morning at 6.30am, Whitechapel Mission).

Now that I am on the subject of the Metropolitan Police, this is Declan’s letter of 26 March to Detective Constable Alexander Head of the Beat Crime Unit in Limehouse Police Station concerning the lack of anything in relation to the assault on him in the Whitechapel Mission on 17 February (when he was punched twice in the face by a homeless called Ali in an unprovoked attack):

Dear DC Head

Crime Reference Number: 4204886/07

Please find enclosed copy of my informal statement of 19 February, which I handed in to Bethnal Green Police Station for the attention of PC Richard Bentley (823 HT) on Monday, 19 February in respect of the assault on me in the Whitechapel Mission on Saturday, 17 February.

I also enclose copy of letter of 23 March from the Whitechapel Mission regarding your letters of 26 February and 9 March, neither of which the mission received for me.

I also enclose chronology in relation to my efforts to have my statement formally taken.

I hereby request (1) copy of the aforementioned letters from you of 26 February and 9 March, and (2) an appointment to have my statement formally taken.

Yours sincerely

Declan Heavey

This is the chronology, to which Declan refers:

19 Feb - 9.30pm, 1st visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Hand in informal statement of 19 February for the attention of PC Bentley.

21 Feb - 10.00pm, 2nd visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. PC Bentley on his holidays. PC Calabrese of Limehouse Police Station to phone back.

23 Feb - 11.30am, 1st phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone back on 26th for PC Calabrese.

26 Feb - 6.15am, 2nd phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone back at 7.00am for PC Calabrese.

- 7.15am, 3rd phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone control room.

- 7.20am, 4th phone call to Limehouse Police Station – Control Room. To be phoned back immediately. (No call.)

- 7.25am, 5th phone call to Limehouse Police Station – Control Room. PC Calabrese to phone back.

- 8.30pm, 1st phone message from Limehouse Police Station. Asked to phone DC Head.

27 Feb - 7.30am, 6th phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Told to phone back at 9.00am for DC Head.

- 9.00am, 7th phone call to Limehouse Police Station. DC Head to phone back.

1 Mar - 7.00pm, 2nd phone message from Limehouse Police Station. PC Bentley says he is to arrest assailant, after which my statement will be taken.

23 Mar - 5.30am, 8th phone call to Limehouse Police Station. Progress report not available over phone.

- 7.00am, 3rd visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Progress report includes letters from DC Head of 26 February and 9 March, neither of which I received. Asked to call back at 8.00am for phone call to DC Head. (7.30am, Whitechapel Mission issue letter stating no letter arrived for me since 20 January.)

- 8.00am, 4th visit to Bethnal Green Police Station. Asked to phone DC Head between 10.00pm and 6.00am.

24 Mar - 5.30am, 9th phone call to Limehouse Police Station. DC Head to phone back.

26 Mar - 12.30pm, 1st registered letter – DC Head. Request (1) copy of letters from DC Head of 26 February and 9 March, and (2) appointment to have my statement formally taken.

And this is the reply of 29 March Declan received from Bethnal Green Police Station:

Dear Mr Heavey

I acknowledge your letter regarding Crime ref: 4204886/07, which was received on 29th March 2007. This has been referred to DC Head who will be responding to your letter as soon as possible.

In the meantime, if you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact the office at the above address. Please quote the above reference number on any further correspondence.

Yours sincerely

Katherine Jones
Correspondence Clerk

A few days ago, I read avidly an article in The Times by Matthew Parris in favour of reason – as opposed to faith. It states: “You are living, dear reader, at a watershed in human history. This is the century during which, after 2,000 years of what has been a pretty bloody marriage, faith and reason must agree to part, citing irreconcilable differences.”

And it leaves me thinking that religious leaders – I think I can safely include here not only religious Christian leaders but Islamic leaders also – would agree to no such parting, at least not so long as the Government thinks it can have a shot at burying people like Declan and I: two people who are seeking to establish a global network of groups and individuals campaigning against the involvement of religion in science and public policy.

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Church and State

MAYOR OF LONDON RSI PROPERTY
DAY 406 IN A WEEKLY PERIODIC TENANCY
SUBJECT TO A SECTION 21 NOTICE

(SEE PARA. 3 BELOW)

1. Our 308 Honorary Associates include 20 Nobel Prize laureates. Declan and I are engaged in a project that deals with the publication of issues significant to social policy in a number of key areas, e.g., climate change, population, futurism, atheism, and free speech. Established as Network for Church Monitoring, a non-profit company limited by guarantee, our main publication, found at the website, Church and State, calls attention to subjects, not the least which have been critical of the interaction between religious and secular institutions. We have been the target of numerous threats and actions, e.g., the former resulting in threats to Declan's life, and the latter, which have led to vandalism. The various incidents are on record with the police and other official agencies.

2. There are no less than 63 Nobel Prize laureates on the Church and State website from 20 Honorary Associates, eight articles, nine book excerpts and 33 petition signatories. (For example, one Nobel laureate signed our Nobel petition in support of human embryonic stem cell research and gave us permission to excerpt from one of his books.) Our list of associates also includes 18 US National Medal laureates, and six Turing Award laureates (the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in computer science). We have published one article and excerpted from the books of seven members of the British House of Lords. And there are 31 knighted professors on the site from 13 Honorary Associates, one book excerpt and 21 petition signatories. These figures are despite the never-ending assault on our email (this link reveals the targeting of our emails to, among others, a close colleague in Washington, DC as well as space advocates and Nobel laureates).

3. This is Day 406 for us living under the threat to life of a 'no fault' eviction by Peabody Trust.[1] We live in a Mayor of London's Rough Sleepers Initiative (RSI) property. Peabody's appalling new terms of tenancy have forced us into an unstable weekly periodic tenancy that poses a threat to Declan's life and inhibits our ability to exercise our rights. Declan accumulated quite a history with the Housing Ombudsman Service before he received the Ombudsman's decision not to investigate a referral from Lyn Brown MP on jurisdictional grounds. The Ombudsman was asked to consider whether or not our tenancy has been renewed like for like; and whether, if not, it should be in light of the landlord having accused us of not signing a like-for-like agreement. The Equality and Human Rights Commission will not accept a referral of discrimination from Ms Brown, the Commission's helpline (EASS) having grossly distorted the complaint against Peabody. We no longer have pro se access to the courts (see next paragraph).

4. This eviction matter came before District Judge Ruth Fine at the Central London County Court on 30 June 2020, when both counsel for St Mungo's (the charity in effective control of our tenancy) and Declan presented their positions. Declan lost the case and was ordered to pay £1,850 in costs. A publishing colleague in America cleared these costs within 24 hours of my blog post about this hearing for strike out on a related issue that was the essence of the claim, i.e., that St Mungo's would take a phone call to confirm that we are clients of the Mayor of London's RSI programme. Within a week of the hearing, St Mungo's had agreed to take this phone call for us both, the Court having ruled that they were not obliged to do so despite our circumstances. This time we escaped bankruptcy (counsel for St Mungo's asked for £3,407.50 in costs), but consider that to seek pro se access to justice in the courts has become far too dangerous for us. Declan currently has before the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman the decision of the Information Commissioner that allows St Mungo's to continue processing coercive support plans without our knowledge or consent and that also poses a threat to his life.

5. When it comes to traffic, we have had 10.7 million hits in the past three years on Facebook; however, I left the platform on 13 March 2021 for one year rather than risk being banned for life. It is indisputable that with any sort of level playing field Church and State would have far exceeded 2.5 million hits last year. In addition to a large variety of blocks without explanation, Facebook had so severely restricted our Page's distribution by October 2020 that it was almost as good as an unpublished page.[2] Currently, we are up to their 85th block since 1 December 2015, and as usual without an explanation. This block records as one half of their 3rd double block in the first five weeks of this year that lasted 60 days. Our traffic has also been curtailed by over 2.5K blocks on access to Church and State since 26 July 2016, including 29 full distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks since 17 May 2019 that have lasted for as long as 54 hours at a time.[3] About 70% of our hits are from Americans.

"This is precisely the hard hitting kind of response needed to clarify the unfair way Facebook is treating your highly reputable site." Don Collins, Founder, International Services Assistance Fund, Washington DC

Last updated: 26/06/21

_________________________

[1] Once a fixed term has elapsed, the landlord has the option to seek eviction even if the tenant has upheld their obligations in full (though of course the landlord must still apply for and obtain a county court order).

[2] 17/10/20: We have permission to publish this ISAF letter of 30 September to Facebook COO Sheryl Samberg. Facebook has so severely restricted our Page's distribution since 4 September that it's almost as good as an unpublished page

[3] Since October 2019, we have been defining a full DDoS attack as having such a high volume of up to 4-minute blocks on access to Church and State that we don't bother recording them all.

Church and State blog

Saturday, April 07, 2007

Roughing things up

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