Update: Derp. This is from 2010 — the Independent’s masthead with today’s date at the top of the page tricked me!
Nicky Wishart is a 12 year old from Eynsham, a village in Oxfordshire, England, where the local youth club is slated to close due to austerity. He decided to organise a protest outside of Prime Minister David Cameron’s nearby constituency office (after all, Cameron once told Parliament, “we need youth clubs, we need things to divert people from crime”), so he posted a call-to-action on Facebook. In response, the Thames Valley Police’s anti-terrorism squad visited Wishart’s school, pulled him out of class, and warned him that he would prosecuted if the protest led to violence, even if he decided not to attend.
Hundreds more youth clubs in England are slated for closure. 20 out of 27 of the clubs in Oxfordshire alone are set to close.
When Nicky Wishart began a campaign to save his popular local youth club from closure, he might have been praised for showing the type of community-minded spirit that his local MP, David Cameron, has championed since he entered Downing Street. In fact, the 12-year-old’s reward for attempting to rescue the centre – a small, brick hall in the leafy Oxfordshire village of Eynsham – was a visit from the police.
After his plans to hold a small protest outside the constituency office of Mr Cameron were spotted by anti-terror officers on Facebook, Nicky was pulled out of a lesson and warned by police that he would be held responsible if any violence broke out. Without his mother with him, he was frightened. “It was terrifying,” said Nicky. “I was told that I could be arrested if there was any trouble at the protest. I was also told that I could be arrested even if I decided not to go myself. I didn’t know what to do.”
‘I was told by police that I could be arrested. It was terrifying’
[Michael Savage/The Independent]
(via Interesting People)
(Image: Your worry or your life, a Creative Commons Attribution (2.0) image from ggvaidya’s photostream)