Legal Observers & Stewards Wanted for Leicester Demonstrations

From Saqib Deshmukh:

In response to the threat of the EDL on the 4th of February and to the feedback and concerns raised from the meetings that have taken place at the Centre and within the community locally and media we are looking to take the lead in deploying Legal Observers and Stewarding on the day

As you may be aware we deployed Legal Observers successfully in 2010 and we would like to do this again, so if you are interested in taking up this role again or wish to become a Legal Observer then please contact myself at the Centre. The training/refresher course will be next Friday 3rd of February 2-5pm at the Highfields Centre and there will be a briefing session on Saturday morning prior to demos and a debrief after. We will be looking to deploy Legal Observers at different part of the march routes (both EDL & UAF) and the rally points as well as in the Highfields and St Matthews areas where they may be smaller community mobilisations

From the experience of what happened in 2010 particularly in Highfields and St Matthews and the spontaneous demonstrations that took place particularly outside the main masjid in Conduit Street I feel there is a need for community based stewarding. Having attended other demonstrations around the country as a Legal Observer I have seen first-hand where this has been successful and most recently in Tower Hamlets where the local Bangladeshi community were particularly active. I need to emphasise that both sets of volunteers are independent of the police and council but there will be communication through Senior Stewards. Stewards will have an opportunity to choose to be local to Highfields/St Matthews or to steward the main counter demonstration in town. So please circulate the request for this widely if we do have adults and young people who want to defend our masjids and houses then they need to come forward as volunteer stewards on the day. This will ensure that we have clear accountability and that people can protest peacefully and defend their locality but with a stewarding presence so we are safely organised and can police ourselves on the day.

I’m calling an introductory session for Stewards on Monday 30th January at 6-7.30pm and we then do a legal training session with members of Netpol on Friday 3rd Feb 5.30-7.30pm with briefing session on the morning of the 4th of February and a debrief at the end of the day. All sessions will be at the Highfields Centre. For all of these activities we will be working with the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) to deliver the training and with TREC. I have also contacted FMO and I am hoping that we can work with them on this endeavour.

Details of the Network for Police Monitoring are here:

http://networkforpolicemonitoring.org.uk/

We will need more Legal Observers this year and I anticipate that a large number of Stewards will also be needed. Please spread the word and let’s make sure that we have a good turnout and take an active role on the day.

Saqib Deshmukh
Audio Visual & Performing Arts Co-ordinator
Highfields Centre
0116 253 1053
07766464358

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