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<p>Hello! Bit of a long one sorry, but any advice you can give is
much appreciated.<br>
</p>
<p>Here's the background if you haven't been following it: the local
council have contracted a private company called Amey to manage
the street infrastructure, and Amey have set about chopping down
all our well-loved street trees. There has been a lot of protest
about it over the years and now things are hotting up, with
protestors jumping into barriered zones to stop felling taking
place. Various court cases happened last year and Amey (or perhaps
Sheffield Council, I'm not sure) ended up with a civil injunction
against anyone entering the zones. The result is that people are
still doing it, but are covering their faces and trying to remain
anonymous, as the civil injunction can only be enforced if they
know your name and address. </p>
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<p>1. Protestors who do enter the zones are now routinely being
physically assaulted by private security who claim they are
using "reasonable force" to remove them, but often overstep the
mark. When they report it to the cops (who are usually present
but not intervening), the cops say that they cannot investigate
a crime unless the victim supplies their name and address. But
they do not want to supply their name and address because the
are afraid that the police will pass it on to Amey or Sheffield
City Council. So I have few questions about this. Firstly, can a
victim report a crime without giving their details, or giving a
pseudonym? Secondly, can the victim request that their details
not be given to certain people? Are the victim's details
automatically given to the perpetrator of the crime? What are
the rules about the police sharing information with other
parties? I am horrified that this is basically a free-for-all
for the private security to attack people because they are
afraid to deanonymise themselves.<br>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">2. Some protestors are
concerned that Amey or private security personnel might be
using IMSI catchers to spy on them. I believe this is
extremely unlikely, because such companies will not have the
tech or the expertise, and would not take the risk of being
prosecuted for it. Also that if they are doing it, it is
highly illegal, and if proved, someone would go to jail and
the company reputation would be stuffed. Is that correct?</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">3. Suppose a protestor is
summoned to court on suspicion of breaking the injunction. Any
photographic or video evidence would show them with face
covered, they would not be recognisable. Would they have a
right so say "no comment" when asked "is that you?" or would
that be contempt of court? I'm thinking that if the only way
they were identified was via illegal methods such as
unauthorised data sharing or surveillance, then the person
bringing the case would not be able to show evidence proving
the identity.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Sorry to bother you with all
this but there is so much paranoia, conclusion-jumping and
(most frighteningly) ignorance of rights and submission to
authority going on in this group of protestors, I feel it's
down to me to get some sense into them, which means getting
some sense into me first!</span><br>
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<p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;">Naomi<br>
</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12.8px;"><br>
</span></p>
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