Barnet anti-war campaigner guilty of shouting at prime minister

11:31am Monday 5th November 2007

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A BARNET peace activist has been convicted of disorderly conduct last week for protesting against Gordon Brown's role in the Iraq war on the day he became prime minister.

Miranda Dunn, 45, of Glenhill Close, Finchley, was identified by police as a "potential security risk to the Prime Minister" before she broke through a barrier outside the Treasury, in Whitehall, on June 27, and shouted "Gordon Brown is a war criminal".

At the time, Mr Brown was preparing to leave the building to meet the Queen in his first act as prime minister.

Police at the trial, at Horseferry Road Magistrates Court last week, described how the world media, tourists and members of the public witnessed the protest.

Ms Dunn was arrested after running to within about 20 feet of the Treasury doors. The prosecution argued that her actions had caused distress and alarm to the policemen who were forced to chase after and arrest her.

Representing herself, Ms Dunn took to the stand to read out a lengthy statement defending her reasons for protest, including the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, the military use of depleted uranium and the under-funding of the armed forces.

She said: "My attempt to call Mr Brown a war criminal opposite the Treasury was provoked by the way in which the event was about to be portrayed by the world's media as an unopposed celebration of a new prime minister.

"The event was, in reality, the replacement of one warmongering supporter of President Bush for another. When I saw the police were moving to remove Maria another activist and myself from the scene, to eradicate all symbols of dissent, I felt it my duty to call Mr Brown a war criminal in the loudest voice I could manage."

According to notes made after the arrest by PC Stacey, one of the police officers at the scene, intelligence officers identified Ms Dunn as a political activist and "a potential security risk to the impending prime minister".

Ms Dunn was known to police for her active support of peace campaigner Brian Haw, who has been protesting in Parliament Square against British foreign policy for more than six years.

She was also arrested in 2004 for throwing tomato juice at George Bush Snr at a fundraising event for the election campaign of George W Bush.

Ms Dunn argued that the effect of being labelled a security risk was to excite the two arresting officers, who she accused of using excessive force.

She said: "The fact that I was immediately assaulted by two adrenalin-high young policemen, making the cries of an overweight middle-aged housewife into a strangled whimper, shows the fragile status of free speech in Brown's Britain."

The arresting officer, PC Allan, denied using excessive force. Ms Dunn was found guilty, given a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay £200 towards the cost of the trial.