Scotland Yard spent £111,000 (US $220,000) to crackdown on lone antiwar protester Brian Haw but still failed to dislodge him from Parliament Square, London's Metropolitan Police admitted today.
The opposition slammed as laughable the government's efforts to remove the symbolic figure who was voted most inspiring political figure at the 2006.
Haw has been protesting in Parliament Square since 2nd June 2001, Initially against the economic sanctions on Iraq and the bombing of the country by the US and UK.
"I want to go back to my own kids and look them in the face again knowing that I've done all I can to try and save the children of Iraq and other countries who are dying because of my government's unjust, amoral, fear - and money - driven policies," Haw said. "These children and people of other countries are every bit as valuable and worthy of love as my precious wife and children."
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to use 9/11 terror attacks as an excuse to shut the 58-year-old up, who later focussed his agitation campaign against the US President George W. Bush's war on terror.
In October 2002, a judge ruled that Brian was exercising his right to freedom of speech and that his placards did not constitute advertising, and that any pavement obstruction was not "unreasonable".
In 2005, the Blair's Labour-led parliament passed the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act (SOCPA) specifically aimed at removing Haw from Parliament Square.
Once again the judiciary came to Haw's rescue, with the High Court stating that the law does not apply retro-actively.
The government successfully appealed the ruling, but Haw applied to protest within the terms of SOCPA, and he was allowed to carry on with his protest, but this time with serious restrictions
The restrictions include that Haw must reduce his display to 3 metres in any direction and that all items must be on display 'at a glance' and cannot be concealed by any other item.
On 23 May 2006, the police mounted a massive night-time operation to remove almost all of Haw's placards, and charged the protester with failing to comply with the conditions of SOCPA.
At Haw's trial, the judge acquitted the protester and ruled that the conditions, and the delegated responsibility for making them, were unlawful.
"First they sought to legislate against him only to find that the law could not be applied to him," , Liberal Democrat Shadow Home Secretary, Nick Clegg MP said. "And now we discover that thousands of pounds of taxpayers’ money have been spent attempting to remove a single individual from Parliament Square. The Government and the police have contrived to make a mountain out of a molehill."
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