Council chief apologises over 'stripped protesters'

10:50am Thursday 7th March 2013 in News By Jack Monroe

Mark Sharp - in a black gag to "highlight the lack of democracy" in being made to remove his tshirt. Mark Sharp - in a black gag to "highlight the lack of democracy" in being made to remove his tshirt.

COUNCILLORS have joined forces to condemn the actions of a council officer that saw peaceful protestors forced to remove items of their clothing in order to gain access to a public meeting.

Former cabinet member, Conservative councillor Mark Flewitt, has called for an investigation into the events that resulted in Mark Sharp, Patsy Link and Sheena Walker standing in the public gallery half naked. He said: “Scrap the Cabinet is a legitimate point of view. I assure you that I will play my part to see that it does not happen again.”

Labour Councillor Julian Ware-Lane said: “Not only is it an indignity to disrobe people, it is a suppression of free speech.”

Chief Executive Robert Tinlin has apologised and called for an investigation. In an email to Mark Sharp on Saturday he said: “Please accept my apologies for the situation you found yourselves in on Thursday evening. This was not any form of deliberate action against you and I regret that it has happened. I am conscious that you have worn tshirts in the past with this slogan without harm.

“I have asked a senior member of my management group to deal with your complaint. I will also be personally reviewing the guidance for our facilities and security staff to avoid any similar circumstances in the future.”

Comments(15)

Soouthchurch59 says...
10:58am Thu 7 Mar 13

Not a very attractive ecdysiast....

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runwellian says...
11:01am Thu 7 Mar 13

Sometimes the truth hurts!

Isn't this supposed to be the best council .... LOL!

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Red Under Your Bed says...
11:06am Thu 7 Mar 13

Maybe that council 'officer' thought they were still policing the Olympic park.

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Carnabackable says...
12:08pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Just shows how little people can become little Hitlers, the way these people were treated, was disgusting, and to think those elected bigots, were having a debate about the future of Southend, some serious human rights breached here, hope those who were ordered to remove their clothes seek legal advice.

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iknowbetter says...
2:09pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Seems a clear cut case of prevention to freedom of speech. I wish they would adopt the same forceful attitude to hate clerics who rant violent messages and threats to kill. But oh no we cant step on their right to freedom of speech. Get a couple of peaceful protesters with non violent slogans on their T shirts protesting about local issues and they are prevented from carrying out their right. Something terribly wrong in this country.

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andy:) says...
2:50pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Something is going very wrong at Southend Council.

It would of been understandable IF the T-shirts had offensive comments on, but they did not, people do not take kindly to taking away our freedoms..and the current Tories seem hellbent on it.

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Joe Wildman-Clark says...
4:16pm Thu 7 Mar 13

andy:) wrote:
Something is going very wrong at Southend Council.

It would of been understandable IF the T-shirts had offensive comments on, but they did not, people do not take kindly to taking away our freedoms..and the current Tories seem hellbent on it.
Where does it state a councillor ordered them to take the t-shirts off, at the time it happend they would have all been in the chamber awaiting the start of the meeting.

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upset says...
5:49pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Why is the council not identified in the editorial, and why put a Southend story in the Castle Point section?

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iknowbetter says...
5:53pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Joe Wildman-Clark wrote:
andy:) wrote: Something is going very wrong at Southend Council. It would of been understandable IF the T-shirts had offensive comments on, but they did not, people do not take kindly to taking away our freedoms..and the current Tories seem hellbent on it.
Where does it state a councillor ordered them to take the t-shirts off, at the time it happend they would have all been in the chamber awaiting the start of the meeting.
I do hope once the investigation has been completed that the Officer in question gets duely sacked. No one has the right to prevent anyone from carrying out their right to a peaceful protest in a free and civilized country.

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Joe Wildman-Clark says...
6:26pm Thu 7 Mar 13

upset wrote:
Why is the council not identified in the editorial, and why put a Southend story in the Castle Point section?
The Southend Echo is blighted by storys from canvey and basildon everynight!

Who cares about them, what have they ever done for the world, the best view of basildon is then one you get when passing through! FACT

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iknowbetter says...
6:38pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Joe Wildman-Clark wrote:
upset wrote: Why is the council not identified in the editorial, and why put a Southend story in the Castle Point section?
The Southend Echo is blighted by storys from canvey and basildon everynight! Who cares about them, what have they ever done for the world, the best view of basildon is then one you get when passing through! FACT
If thats true, then at least it gives Southend readers a break from reading about all the Murders, Rapes, and daylight street robberies/muggings. You should be thanking the Echo not critisising it.

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upset says...
6:46pm Thu 7 Mar 13

Joe Wildman-Clark wrote:
upset wrote:
Why is the council not identified in the editorial, and why put a Southend story in the Castle Point section?
The Southend Echo is blighted by storys from canvey and basildon everynight!

Who cares about them, what have they ever done for the world, the best view of basildon is then one you get when passing through! FACT
I thought it was the view in the rear view mirror!!

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Shoebury_Cyclist says...
7:04pm Thu 7 Mar 13

I wonder if there would be as much defence of a 'right to peaceful protest' if these has been SAEN or SKIPP members.

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stopmoaning1 says...
9:38pm Thu 7 Mar 13

I don’t know the layout of the Council Chamber or where the ‘protesters’ were sitting in relation to the Councillors in the meeting, BUT.. I’m not sure how they would have been able to carry on their meeting totally oblivious of the half naked ‘protesters’ I wonder why they did nothing on the night to deal with this. Oh, yes I know, they didn't care. The story then ended up in the paper and now they all want to jump on the ‘I’m so sorry this is terrible’ bandwagon looking for their next votes.

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ShrimperSS0 says...
6:54am Fri 8 Mar 13

Shoebury Cyclist - I think with some of those named in the story they were. I believe the council should apologise for scrapping the airshow. Even though I stopped being a fan of the event, it still gave some pleasure to thousands of people every year and brought in some much needed tourist/ day tripper pounds into the town. Clacton have already started to rub their collective hands in glee that a bigger airshow from a rival Essex seaside resort has been scrapped. Local politics should be for local people, meaning party politics should not be the issue, the way the town is being run should be. I would ask that in a couple of months time as a town we voice our disapproval. Anyone in the leader's ward give them a good electoral kicking.

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