8 October 2008 – The Carlton Hotel demonstration and arrests
Six of the nine arrested at the Carlton Hotel demonstration in June described the day's events.
John Welford said that the demonstration had started at 10am and he was released from St. Leonard's police station, the last to leave, at 9.30pm.
Geraint Bevan described the Home Office's countrywide secret consultations, which had been going on since March, and the NO2ID response in Edinburgh and elsewhere.
Peaceful
David Muxworthy would have been in the demonstration had not his application for the meeting been surprisingly accepted. He described the meeting from the inside; participants had been unaware of any disruption outside.
Roddy McLachlan described the demonstration which was completely peaceful. Some demonstrators wore Stasi uniforms, some were in robot costumes and others were in plain clothes. The main activity was to hand out leaflets.
Geraint Bevan described getting into the meeting using an alternative ID. ID had not been checked. He had asked the first question from the floor and was immediately asked to leave the meeting.
As he was leaving, he found the police coming into the building.
Arrests
James Hammerton described the arrests and being taken to St Leonard's police station. The demonstrators had been told that they could be held for six hours.
They were told individually that they were being charged with breach of the peace – an imprisonable offence. The basis was the alarm or distress caused by their dress.
Media coverage
Geraint Bevan summed up. There had been good media coverage with a piece on the 10pm STV news and coverage in the Daily Mirror for two days. Patrick Harvie MSP had given support in a press statement.
The Home Office had scored an own goal. It was thought that the publicity had been beneficial to NO2ID. Since the charges were dropped no precedent had been set.