Gestapo Watch - UK Cops try to censor Anti-Cluster Bomb Film



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In 2004 a group of Brighton peace campaigners began to bang pots and pans outside their local arms manufacturers EDO MBM in disgust of their part in the Iraq war. This has grown into the Smash EDO campaign, which has cost the company millions, been the subject of large scale police operations and has tested the right to protest in the UK.

Using activist, police and CCTV footage plus interviews with those involved in the campaign, 'On The Verge' tells the story of one of the most persistent and imaginative campaigns to emerge out of the UK's anti-war movement and direct action scene.

On the Verge - The Film They Tried to Ban
Indymedia, 23 March 2008

Police have intervened across the country to censor 'On the Verge' an independent documentary about the Smash EDO campaign to shut down the Brighton's weapons manufacturer EDO MBM. So far establishments in Southampton, Chichester, Bath and Oxford as well as Brighton have come under police pressure to cancel film showings. In Brighton police intervened to prevent a showing at the Duke of York's Cinema, just one hour prior to the scheduled premiere.

http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/03/394558.html

'A misguided piece of official hysteria'

Police are going to unusual lengths to stop you seeing an obscure, low-budget documentary about an arms manufacturer

Steven Morris -- The Guardian -- Thursday March 27 2008

Over the past 10 days, the film has become notorious, not so much because of the material it contains but because of the reaction of police forces and local authorities to it. Made for less than £500, the film tells how a small but committed group of activists, smashEDO, are taking on the Brighton base of an international arms manufacturer and, in the process, their local constabulary.

The police, who are not shown in a good light in the film, intervened to stop the movie's premiere at a cinema in Brighton, and since then police officers and council officials have been paying calls to venues across the country where On the Verge (so called because the smashEDO protesters were confined for a while to a narrow grass verge opposite the factory they were targeting) is due to be shown, suggesting that it is not a good idea to show the film.

Join the debate: watch the On the Verge trailer and give us your views on heavy-handed censorship:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/ethicalliving/2008/03/gagging_orders.html