I may be a pensioner, but I won’t stop protesting | John Catt | Comment is free

/john-catt-protesting-civil-liberties

  • I may be a pensioner, but I won’t stop protesting | John Catt | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/feb/11/john-catt-protesting-civil-liberties

    Having listened to arguments for and against my judicial review against the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Metropolitan police on Thursday – who branded me a “domestic extremist”, placed me on a database and secretly recorded my activities merely because I attend demonstrations and make sketches – I feel more resolute than ever about safeguarding our civil liberties.

    I am 87 and have been protesting for some 70 years or more. I am retired and live in Brighton not far from where I grew up in Shoreham. Right from my formative years, I stood up against oppressive and unjust behaviour. When I was 14 I worked as a farm labourer in Coombe, Sussex. Most of the workers were elderly; the younger ones were off fighting in the second world war.

    The workers were not being paid on time, and one day we were made to wait in the pouring rain for a very long time for our wages. I demanded that the farmer paid up straight away; it was the first time I spoke up for the rights of others and I have been doing so ever since.