StudentProtest2010

Well, here is my answer to a similar question below:

First of all, I wasn't a law student at the protest, and wore one at the time (we also had Strength Through Unity on one side of our placard) - we thought it was mildly humorous to wear them at the time.

Later on, they became a key point in our case, as the officer on the horse actually attacked us before he fell off, by ripping off our masks (an assault - they can't even ask you to take them off in the street without high level authorisation under PACE) - my glasses came off at the same time.

So, it's really a hark back to that - and we weren't looking to be taken massively seriously on our own at the time.

In the UK, gagging clauses are expensive, and we wouldn't have taken a settlement with one included. So no, we have no issues with talking about the case (bar the usual issues of slander, libel, etc).

As for the actual points outlined by me:

• The court had an apology from the prosecution about one piece of evidence they hid from us
• We have trial transcripts that clearly show witnesses changing evidence significantly between trials
• Witnesses (other police officers) in one instance gave evidence that directly contravened the statements given by another officer with regards to baton use
• The court accepted the position of the defense in several of these issues

I'm being careful, and not saying anything that I can't back up with significant evidence. Thanks for the concern though!

Well, in activist circles, my profile went up a bit, and it has allowed me to become known in legal circles - which is good, as I plan to work in criminal defense in the future (if there is anything left of legal aid by the time I finish my training).

Negitively, it means that some people recognise me and ask me if I really did it ^nudge nudge^, and are slightly disappointed when I tell them, no I didn't pull a police officer off his horse - he attempted to lift me up by my hair, hadn't done his saddle up properly, and promptly fell off.

I would like Cameron to at least acknowledge that he should stay away from commenting on cases that are in progress, and that he would think more carefully next time about how he speaks in similar situations. I think that he damaged the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" somewhat in our case, and could very well have had an impact on our juries.

Even a nice card or letter through the post would be a good gesture.

Do I think it will happen? Well, I didn't think we would have a PM who had allegations around sex of a porcine nature last week... so we shall see.

Not sure where you get that idea - I was an NUS rep the year before at my university, was one of the people at Parliament when the politicians signed the pledges, campaigned on behalf of the lib dems along with many others, and joined protests in both Manchester and London.

The fact that we took to the protest with a little humor isn't unusual in the UK, there were all sorts of humorous placards, including one saying "Dumbledore wouldn't stand for this". One of the things we are especially proud of is our strange national sense of humor.

He wasn't inexperienced - he actually trained mounted officers, and had served for over twenty years, and knew the horse well.

However, you are right, he hadn't tightened up the girth the second time, which is what lead to the dismount. However, there is a question with regards to my weight and his pulling, on whether the saddle would have slipped any way - as I weigh eighteen stone. The Mythbusters Jailbreak episode where a saddle slip occurred poses this as a potentially interesting question. And yes, we did look at using Mythbusters as evidence!