It has been good to make your acquaintance, though I deeply regret the circumstances. Thank you for your kind words, but the situation in which you found yourself should never have happened. It was dereliction of the School’s duty of care towards you that you were intimidated like this on SOAS property.
Thank you for showing such restraint in the face of unwarranted provocation, and such courage in raising this issue publicly.
I shall forward an email that I sent to all UCU(Lecturer Union) members yesterday evening that has engendered a flood of emails from academics expressing shock at your treatment.
Your measured account chills me, particularly your statement that “you could tell by the way that the police kept staring at me that they did not consider this matter over”.
It is such a restrained account of appalling intimidation that all academics and senior admin staff in the School cannot fail to be utterly shocked at what has been allowed to happen to you on the SOAS campus.
I assure that SOAS UCU will not cease until the Director has addressed this issue, I will be raising it at a number of SOAS Committees on which I sit. UCU and I, personally, will be writing to the Met to complain of the appalling treatment you received at the hands of these policemen.
I apologise unreservedly for this outrageous behaviour towards you and the School’s failure to protect you.
With sincerest best wishes
Mash Joy
Dear Mash,
You have absolutely nothing to feel ashamed of.
You dealt with these institutional bullies (police) with calm and restraint in the face of obvious provocation. Four burly policemen arrived at SOAS in relation to just one student. They arrived in a car with a police van in tow. They obviously intended to use it. Angered at failing to find the student who’d dared to exercise his right to “freedom of speech”, they were obviously trying to provoke an incident with you.
You dealt with it brilliantly, and were brave enough to put forward a motion at the Students’ Union AGM yesterday that was supported unanimously. That is the action of a brave man.
Many academics have been talking about your situation and have expressed shock that you have been exposed to this treatment.
You are the catalyst that will bring about change. That is something of which you can be enormously proud.
Thank you for agreeing to let me to put out your statement.
Many thanks,
5 comments:
SOAS academics and SOAS Student Union have backed Mash up on this one, but the principle of SOAS seems to agree that the police should have beaten Mash up....SOAS condones Islamophobia, racism and police brutality.
CONTACT PAUL WEBLEY AND COMPLAIN
Name:Professor Paul Webley Email address:pw2@soas.ac.uk Telephone:0207 898 4014 Fax:0207 898 4019
E-mail him with your complaints. Ask him why he has not said a work about the attack, and why he has refused to support his students.
could you please explain the whole story? what happened exactly?
The police hurt an innocent student, not linked to the Gaza events. The police had nothing else to do, so they just singled out a random student and harassed and intimidated him. They allegedly also attacked him physically.
The Director of SOAS has refused to condemn the attack, and has refused to take the matter seriously.
what's mash?
Sorry for the glaring ommission. our occupation at SOAS had taken centre stage and i didnt realise i hadnt already posted the original correspondence.
So, here it is:
Dear Paul Webley,
I am writing to lodge an official complaint against four extremely aggressive police officers who had come onto SOAS premises tonight (12th January 2009) concerning another criminal issue. Whilst officers were speaking to Mr Nizam Uddin and other SOAS officials; I was approached by an extremely aggressive police officer, who requested to know why I was carrying a mobile phone and whether I was recording him. His language was very unpleasant and he kept looking at me in an intimidatory fashion, yet I had actually done nothing wrong. He then suggested I wipe that "smirk" off my face. I wasn't smile at any time during the ordeal.
Firstly, I wish to state that I was going to the toilet at SOAS and was approached by a police officer, which left me in a state of shock and utter surprise. As a heart patient (who has survived major open heart surgery), my heart was constantly pumping with fear. This particular officer was red faced and simply looking for a fight with any student he could provoke. At no point did I intend to speak to the police officer in question, nor did I wish to engage with him at any point in any form of discussion. I was visiting the gents and texting a friend on my mobile, so was more interested in completing my own task rather than recording the police. I am more sensible than that.
I must emphasis that two officers frequently kept their eye on me, wishing to stir up and instigate violence within the university, but their attempts were doomed to fail. I am normally very calm and do not resort to violent or threatening behaviour. These officers, particularly the one who approached me, instilled fear into me. The tone of his language and his behaviour distressed me. I felt I was being deliberately watched so that the police could have someone to detain and arrest. The officer demanded to look at my phone, but I was not entitled to show him anything. Unless he had any evidence for this, I am not sure why there was a need to review the text message I was sending to a friend. These officers were extremely intimidating, and I felt threatened as a student at SOAS.
How can four officers come onto this campus and intimidate & bully students with complete impunity????? I would like the university to write to the police requesting an explanation.
As a student of SOAS, I informed a member of staff (a lecturer I believe) who subsequently and bravely intervened to assist me. She confronted this threatening and intimidating police officer, who refused to engage in any discussion with her. I blame the police for their attempts to instigate violence and to further exascerbate by refusing to listen to the lecturer's advice. How can a police officer come into a university (a place where I feel very safe) and threaten me (this is beyond belief). One officer staring at me at the SOAS entrance, whilst writing something into his booklet. I assume this was either my description for them to further harass me, or this was an attempt to intimidate me and provoke me. As a vulnerable person with a heart condition, I felt very emotional and have been left very upset by the whole episode. These officers did not respect the sensitive environment they were walking into and hope that in future they will respect students and our environment. I would like the police to apologise for the way I was treated, or I intend to copy every single member of staff and student at SOAS into my next correspondence (a mass correspondence)
I look forward to your most serious and considered response.
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