OUR CASE PUT TO THE HIGH COURT ON 23 APRIL 2021 SEEKING AN INJUNCTION AGAINST POLICE INTERFERENCE AT SPEAKERS CORNER ON 24 APRIL

Piers Corbyn and Heiko Khoo sought an injunction against the Commissioner of Police for London on 23 April 2021 at the High Court.

This case was brought by us because the police have harassed, intimidated and illegally arrested Piers Corbyn, Heiko Khoo and many others at numerous rallies, events and protests, including election rallies over the last year.

Our call for an injunction was rejected by Mr Justice Martin Spenser, but sure enough the next day police violently attacked a peaceful music event involving a couple of hundred people. The news coverage of this and the police and government reports are completely misleading.

OUR CASE PUT TO THE HIGH COURT ON 23 APRIL 2021 SEEKING AN INJUNCTION AGAINST POLICE INTERFERENCE AT SPEAKERS CORNER ON 24 APRIL

Mr Piers Corbyn and Dr. Heiko Khoo v the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis

Draft of Claim

by Mr Piers Corbyn and Dr. Heiko Khoo against the Commissioner of Police for the Metropolis

Mr Corbyn and Dr Khoo have been subject to illegal harassment, intimidation and false imprisonment on numerous occasions between April 2020 and April 2021.

These acts were conducted by police officers and authorities and deprived the claimants of their rights under the Human Rights Act sections 10, 11 and 14

More details and particulars of the claim to follow.

DRAFT OF THE INTERIM INJUNCTION ORDER SOUGHT

1. That the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis will refrain from interference with the election rallies to be held by Mr. Piers Corbyn and Dr. Heiko Khoo at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park on 24 April 2021 and 1 May 2021,
2. That the use of amplification will be permitted on these occasions
3. That the act of speaking in Speakers Corner will be facilitated by the police whenever the area is open to the public.
4. That any public health assessment/intervention regarding SARS-CoV-2 transmission risks to members of the public gathering in Speakers Corner made by the police or public health authorities, should not infringe the right to speak in 3 above.

Skeleton Argument of the Claimants


Mr. Piers Corbyn and Dr. Heiko Khoo V The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis

Hearing on 23 April 2021 Queens Chambers

1.                         Our arguments are – That Mr. Piers Corbyn and Dr. Heiko Khoo are victims of discrimination and the deprivation of their rights under articles 10, 11 and 14 of the Human Rights Act 1998.
2.                         That Mr Corbyn and Dr Khoo have been explicitly targeted by police officers at Speakers Corner and at other rallies and events, and have been subject to harassment, intimidation and illegal detention for their political views.
3.            That the protection of public health has been employed as a false excuse to justify detaining Mr Corbyn on 11 occasions and Dr Khoo on 6 occasions over the last 11 months.
4.             That no evidence has been presented by the police or the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to justify the claim that open air gatherings at places like Speakers Corner constitute a threat to public health leading to any elevated risk of SARS-COV-2 transmission and causing the spread of the disease(s) called Covid-19.
5.                         Very few police officers are qualified or trained in epidemiology, virology, or public health. Therefore, police officers are not qualified to evaluate the risks of open-air infection, so their decisions about when to enforce the Coronavirus regulations and stipulations and against who constitute an arbitrary exercise of power.
6.                         The lack of evidence-based Covid public health decision-making by the

police are indicated by the current near universal wearing of face-coverings or masks by officers when in the open air. The fact that the police are explicitly exempt in law from wearing such coverings when on duty begs the question, on whose advice, and based on what public health evidence did the police commanders request or require officers to wear face-coverings? Given the serious risks to health involved, due to the elevated risk posed by these masks becoming vectors of transmission for the SARS-COV-2 virus (through prolonged and the improper use of these masks), the decision or recommendation for officers to wear face-coverings can only be detrimental to public health and public health messaging.

10.                         We recognise that the Appeal Court found against Dolan and the Everard judgement by Justice Holgate deemed Covid-19 to be a public health crisis that is so severe as to justify restrictions on multiple articles of the Human Rights Act 1998.
11.                         However, this does not imply that officers or commanders are permitted to target specific political groups and individuals for harassment, intimidation or arrest.
12.                         Piers Corbyn is a key witness in the current undercover policing investigation which shows that he was subject to extensive undercover surveillance for 20 years from 1971. The events of the last year show that he is still subject to special surveillance and harassment because of his ideas.
13. Over the past year, Mr Corbyn has been arrested on 11 occasions sometimes being detained for 23 hours. His beliefs should play no role in the way that the police treat him. Piers has been targeted for arrest in a discriminatory fashion. This conflicts with the Human Rights Act, which guarantees freedom of expression and freedom from discrimination.
14. Mr Corbyn’s solicitor has sent 2 letters before action concerning his unlawful detention in Sheffield. Confirmation of targeting was heard at Mr Corbyn’s trial in Bristol on 22 April 2021, where Police Constable 4847 Kyle Benjamin said in his statement that out of the entire crowd present. “It was decided by senior officers that he (Mr Corbyn) would be arrested.” Statement to the Court in Bristol 22 April 2021.
15. There is extensive video footage in the public domain that shows the police singling Mr Corbyn out for arrest and harassment on multiple occasions. The harassment has continued even after he declared his candidacy in the Mayoral election in London.
16. Furthermore, the Report by the HMICFRS about the Sarah Everard vigil also confirms that Mr Corbyn is being monitored as some sort of ongoing threat, which can only be explained by his views about the Covid-19 crisis. See pp.30-31 of the HMICFRS report.
17. Following the events in Clapham Common, Dr Khoo reported himself and the Duchess of Cambridge to the police online for the crime of attending an illegal gathering – the prohibited Sarah Everard vigil. This report appears to have been ignored by the police as no FPN has been issued to Dr. Khoo, and presumably not to the Duchess of Cambridge either. Khoo believes that the issuing of FPNs has been used by the police to justify illegal and discriminatory detentions, where the 4 e’s were often never employed.
18. Khoo is a journalist and a member of the NUJ and a candidate for the London Assembly elections for the Let London Live Party. But he has been arrested on 6 occasions since 1 November and subject to harassment, intimidation and arrest by the police at Speakers Corner and elsewhere.
19. The Speaking Area of Hyde Park covers a large part of the North East area of Hyde Park and has been set aside as an area where speakers are permitted to address people and therefore also for people to listen to them since the 1872 Royal Parks and Gardens Act.
20. Dr Khoo is a veteran speaker in Hyde Park who collaborated over a period of 5 years with the former Hyde Park liaison officer PC Steve Barnes in order to promote a peaceful and free exchange of ideas in Speakers Corner.
Mr Khoo has submitted multiple complaints to the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) about illegal detentions and harassment. See exhibit of IOPC complaints.
21. Khoo has been chased out of Speakers Corner on multiple occasions since December 2020 for orating in the designated Speakers’ Area of Hyde Park. On one occasion he was chased by dozens of police for reading from a speech by Lord Sumption on the Coronavirus from 20 October 2020.  Following Dr Khoo’s speech at least 80 officers arrived to chase Mr Corbyn and a few hundred people out of the Speakers’ Corner Area.
22. When he attempted to discuss with Sargent Berry based in the Hyde Park police station to clarify the operative laws and regulations of the day in relation to public speaking he was subjected to harassment, intimidation and assault by police officers.
23.  Although when Dr. Khoo was arrested and detained some corresponding FPNs were issued, the CPS has not initiated any court proceedings where Dr. Khoo can defend himself before the court.
24. It is of course acknowledged that the Judge cannot verify the claims of targeting and harassment except by an examination of extensive video footage of all these arrests and occasions of harassment and by examining internal documents and communications by the police. This will be very time consuming for the court.
25. We have informed the police that we intend to hold speeches in Hyde Park on 24 April after large numbers of officers were deployed against protestors in Hyde Park on 20 March making a number of arrests against people attending Piers Corbyn’s election speech. Later the same day, large numbers of police in military formation engaged in charges in full riot gear against peaceful protestors in the large grass section of the Speakers Corner Area.
26. We are seeking an injunction against prohibitions on people speaking in the Speakers Area of Hyde Park and which instructs the police to allow Dr. Khoo and Mr. Pier Corbyn to speak on 24 April and 1 May in Hyde Park and to use amplification to address those in the area.
27. On 20 November 2020 Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London) said “One of the great things about Speakers’ Corner – and it is something that has been going on for centuries now – is the ability for people to get a box or a ladder nowadays and make speeches.  Sometimes they are quite entertaining.  Tourists love it.  We Brits love it.[…]  I am a big advocate for Article 10 [of the European Convention on Human Rights] and I would remind you that it is a great freedom we have, enshrined not just in the Human Rights Act but in the European Convention on Human Rights, which you are a big fan of as well.”
28. The Speakers Corner area is a location which is symbolically important for British      democracy and where there is ample space for people to keep distant from each other if they so choose, or if they are asked, or even forced to do so. Any matters concerning the enforcement of public health measures cannot be made the responsibility of the orators or speakers, without prohibiting them from speaking. No more can a shop, a train, etc implement “distancing” measures that always conform to 2 or even 1-meter rules.
29. The problem is not academic, any general prohibition on speaking in the designated Speakers Corner area could be defined as a prohibition on anybody from speaking there, even normal conversations or phone-calls.
30. As this is clearly not the issue under consideration, the question remains, what constitutes a “gathering” that is simultaneously a threat to public health, and how is the threat to be determined in a way that does not generate arbitrary power.

SECTION 2

Unfortunately, due to time constrains this section is not correctly paginated or presented in a complete trail bundle, we apologise to the court for this.

Witness Statement of Dr. Heiko Khoo and Mr Piers Corbyn

The Royal Parks and Other Open Spaces Regulations 1997

Judgement of Justice Holgate 12 March 2021 reg Sarah Everard vigil

HMICFRS report “The Sarah Everard vigil” published 30 March 2021

Local events risk assessment by Dr Khoo

Various IOPC complaints lodged by Dr. Khoo

Witness Statement of Dr. Heiko Khoo and Mr Piers Corbyn

 

1. We are candidates for the election to London Assembly and for Mayor of London on behalf of the Let London Live Party.
2. Mr Corbyn has been arrested 11 times in the past year for breaches of Coronavirus rules, often being detained at police stations for up to 23 hours. He is currently a central witness in the Undercover Policing Inquiry which shows that he has been subject to undercover policing surveillance for decades. This appears to be ongoing, or he remains an individual of special attention to police intelligence because of his political views and deeds.
   https://www.ucpi.org.uk/individuals_name/piers-corbyn/
3. Since November Dr Khoo has been arrested on 6 occasions while exercising his rights to free speech and assembly (On 1 November 2020 in Speakers Corner Hyde Park while speaking against Tommy Robinson. On 5 November 2020 while working as an accredited journalist, distributing public health information, and holding an educational speech about the public health claims of the government. On 28 November 2020 after stating that we have the right to speak, assemble and gather under the Human Rights Act 1998, he was arrested 3 times consecutively on the same day. And on 27 February 2021 while working as a journalist
4. On each occasion although FPN’s for breaching coronavirus rules were issued, no court process has been initiated by the Crown. On 28 November one arrest was for possession of a class B drug, this went to the Crown court in Southwark, where the CPS dropped the charges.
5. Dr Khoo has been speaking at Speakers Corner Hyde Park since 1985 and am the producer of the Speakers Corner radio show. Over the past 5 years, he liaised extensively with PC Steve Barnes from the Hyde Park Police to encourage, foster and promote the Speakers’ Corner tradition of free speech, democracy and a “community of difference” where divergent views are welcome.
6. Some police officers (perhaps under instructions from superior officers acting on information from forward intelligence units) have targeted Dr Khoo for harassment and detention. He has lodged many complaints to the IPOC about this, but not one has made any concrete progress. There is extensive video evidence in the public domain showing him being arrested and harassed by individual officers and by large groups of officers, yet not one court case against him has been initiated after the fines were issued but not paid or responded to. This practice of detaining people and issuing them with a FPN but not initiating court proceedings endows the police with a blanket excuse to detain anyone.
7. At the Sarah Everard event on 13 March Dr. Khoo spoke from the bandstand to the crowds. He expressed the view that the arbitrary nature of enforcement of Coronavirus rules and regulations created the circumstances in which individual officers can freely abuse their position of authority, that can create a dangerous psychology. However, the HMICFRS report titled “The Sarah Everard vigil” states of the speech ‘A man (whom we now believe to be an associate of Mr Corbyn) was attempting to address the crowd by shouting at them from the bandstand using words to the effect of “police are oppressing us, they are murderers”. P31 This is a falsification of what he said. It is likely to encourage police officers to treat Dr Khoo in a hostile fashion.
8. Indeed, the report also claims that the commanders at the event had insufficient communications and situational awareness and then refers to the arrival of Piers Corbyn at the event as a threat to public order. Mr Corbyn “was later seen at 5.30pm positioned at the front of the crowd at the bandstand. The Silver Command was not told about this and was therefore unable to determine whether the situation was changing, and whether any action was needed”. P 31.
9. The obligations of the police to act in accordance with the Human Rights Act, Articles 10 on freedom of expression and 11 on freedom of assembly is paramount.
10. In the HMICFRS report on the vigil police chiefs and officers on the ground make numerous statements about their views of public health dangers, but they provide no evidence to justify these claims. There is no indication that these officers have any medical, epidemiological or scientific knowledge about SARS-COV-2 transmission or that of COVID-19 nor that they have received such training by qualified and competent professionals.
    The enforcement of so-called “social distancing” appears to be routinely interpreted as based on 2 meters. Yet the World Health Organization recommends 1 meter. https://www.who.int/news-room/q-a-detail/coronavirus-disease-covid-19-how-is-it-transmitted
11. There is little or no evidence to support the contention that open air events, gatherings pose any significant risk to public health. On the contrary these events are far less likely to lead to the transmission of SARS-COV-2 or COVID-19 than any enclosed setting. Therefore, it is incumbent on the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to provide such evidence, or to instruct the police that there is no such evidence. This could then be used to guide policing practice in line with evidential criteria. The dangers of misinformed COVID public health training for the police are evident in the fact that officers routinely wear face coverings in ways that increase the danger of contacting COVID-19 and other bacterial and viral respiratory diseases.
12. The Judgement by Mr Justice Holgate of the 12 March 2021 concerning Jessica Leigh et al and the Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis was concerned with a specific event where both parties accepted the public health claims of the Police and the Secretary of State in relation to the proposed “Sarah Everard” vigil and in relation to open air protests and static assemblies, rallies etc.
13. We do not accept the public health claims made by both parties in that case. And we request an injunction against any interference against our election rallies on 24 April and 1 May at Speakers Corner, Hyde Park.

 

We will provide more documents to the court by email or in hard copy concerning covid-19 transmission, open air events, distancing and masks.
Signed
Heiko Khoo                                       Piers Corbyn