BY DEBBIE DELANGE AND AGGY PARTASIS
MANCHESTER - Defenders of democratic rights here have been waging a protest campaign to push back police harassment against a political and union activist, Paul Galloway. They scored a partial victory when police returned his impounded car, but he still faces an order to submit to the police.

On November 30 Galloway, a Communist League member and well-known union fighter, was stopped by police as he drove his car near his home, accompanied by his 12-year-old son Lee and his son's friend. The police examined the car and said they thought it was stolen. Galloway offered to show them the bill of sale, which proves he had bought it. This receipt also shows Galloway had made an extra payment at the time of purchase for the police to check all the vehicle documents. He was not allowed to get the receipt. Instead he was arrested and his car impounded.

At the police station, the cops grilled him about his job at Case-owned Fermec's plant, organized by the Amalgamated Engineering & Electrical Workers Union, which assembles mechanical diggers. There, the police said, he would have learned how to stamp chassis numbers and attach identification plates, and insinuated that he had illegally changed these on the car.

Galloway's son was taken by police to the home where his mother was visiting, less than ten minutes' drive away. The journey took an hour, during which the 12-year-old was interrogated on where his father got the car.

A flurry of phone calls by friends, who were alerted by his son, forced the cops to release Galloway in the early hours of the morning on unconditional police bail. (Unlike in the United States, this does not require the detainee to pay money.)

No charges were laid. Galloway was ordered to surrender to the police on January 22. His car was held, causing major inconvenience to his family and people Galloway takes to work.

Concerned that the cops could try to frame-up or otherwise victimize the trade unionist, Galloway and supporters organized a protest campaign demanding the police release his car. Galloway was informed December 24 that bail was dropped and he could collect his car. It took a further three days to get the car released. He is still fighting to get written confirmation that bail will be dropped. Until that happens he is required to surrender himself to the police at 10:00 a.m. January 22.

As part of the protest campaign, Galloway spoke at a Militant Labor Forum December 20. "Its routine for cops to harass working people," he said. "At times they hot it up - like in a strike or when workers seek asylum in a new country." He described what had happened to him in this case.

Participants at the Manchester forum pointed to action of the British police in arresting and harassing hundreds of fighters for Irish unity in recent weeks both in Northern Ireland and Great Britain. Nationalist community leaders who recently toured Britain were detained returning to Belfast.

Forum participants were asked to protest the treatment of Galloway and call for his car to be returned. The first person who did was Tim Rigby, a chemical worker and member of the Transport and General Workers Union. Rigby got a notice at his home two days later from the same police station asking for details of a traffic accident he knew nothing about.

A number of trades union and campaign activists were contacted to join the protest. Among them, some members of Troops Out Movement, an organization campaigning for British withdrawal from Ireland, said they would phone the police in protest. At Galloway's workplace many workers expressed outrage and recounted their own experiences of police harassment.

Debbie Delange is a member of the Rail Maritime & Transport Union. Aggy Partasis works at Fermec and is a member of the Amalgamated Engineering & Electrical Workers Union.  
 
 
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