Today, or rather yesterday seeing that it's past midnight, has been a rather eventful day, out of which, the protest was a very big part of.
For those who haven't heard it, click here*. In short, two men, one student and one staff, from the main campus were arrested charged with the possession of Al-Qaeda manuals, which is available freely to buy on Amazon, or to download from a US Government website (this I've only heard of from many, and is not verified). The apparent terror scare was initially flagged by the University security staff, and then reported as a possible terrorist attack without any further insight. Later investigations revealed that the manuals were only for academic purposes, and have been duly released. However, Hicham Yezza, the staff, has been re-arrested on immigration charges and may be deported back to Algeria without fair trial.
Today's protest was targetted at the injustice caused to Hicham and the community at wide by the immigration officers' "gestapo mentality"; according to a website**, 'his visa conditions say if he is arrested then the home office has the right to deport him,' which the Home Office used as an excuse to plan his deportation, even though he was wrongfully arrested. Alan Simpson, a Labour MP, himself came to the university to give a speech on Hicham's arrest, and commented on the University security's lack of judgement on their part, the University's lack of support for Hicham, a Ph.D. student and a staff of the university, and the Home Office's rash decisions to deport Hicham without a trial, clearly 'an attempt to make up for a botched terror raid,' (Herald Tribune, an international newspaper). The protest lasted a little over an hour where the Al-Qaeda manual was partly read out, followed by the MP's speech, and then a walk to the Trent Building, where the arrest took place. The protest was then followed by a statement by Hicham himself over the phone. According to In all, the protest may have sparked quite a bit of attention, and assuming that Hicham is freed, there will be another protest/celebration of the occasion.
View the video here.
Even though Gandhi is known to be an extremely peaceful figure, there are some that think of him as a warmonger, a judgement which should be and will be reserved until there is solid evidence; Hich's purchase of the publicly available Al-Qaeda manual should be taken as solely for non-violence, research purposes unless his terrorism motives have been clearly proven, and therefore, should not be subject to such harsh treatments, and should remain innocent till proven guilty.
PS. To add, the manual was actually on the reading list for his research.
PDF Version of Indimedia.org.uk
Pictures and videos will be up shortly...
EDIT:
Here is one picture i managed to find so far:
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Links:
* http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7403654.stm
**http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/2007
http://rapidshare.com/files/119830597/28052008002-0.avi.html
