In your editorial on the right to protest (23 January), you rightly note that the freedom to dissent is currently under threat in Britain. However, you are wrong to say that it has been “almost unheard of” for peaceful protesters to be imprisoned since the 1930s.
For instance, 22 people spent Christmas in prison in 1958 after staging a peaceful anti-war protest at the North Pickenham missile base. In September 1961, 32 people – including Bertrand Russell – were sentenced, most to a month in prison, for organising peaceful protests against nuclear weapons in London and Scotland.
In February 1962, six people were sentenced, most to 18 months, for organising peaceful protests at missile bases. In 1967, two people (one my father, Nicolas Walter) were sentenced to two months in prison after interrupting a speech by George Brown, the then foreign secretary. In 1983, 36 women were sentenced to 14 days after dancing on a silo at Greenham Common. In 1996, 10 women spent six months in prison for damage to a Hawk jet.
These are a few examples of the many nonviolent protesters who have been imprisoned since the 1930s. It is startling that the Guardian – which reported on all these incidents at the time – is erasing this long history of resistance and repression in Britain.
Natasha Walter
London
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