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Act, Alex Evans, arrest, British Transport Police, cut, disabled, elderly, film, George Arthur, ground, James Mitchinson, law, manhandle, Mike Sivier, mikesivier, mob, pensioner, people, protest, railway, Sheffield, Sheffield Star, station, terrorism, Tony Nuttall, train, travel provision, Vox Political
The gentleman being forced to the ground by no less than five British Transport police in the video above is a 65-year-old pensioner named Tony Nuttall, who had been attending a peaceful protest against cuts to travel passes when the incident took place.
At the same protest, against cuts to free travel provision for pensioners and disabled people, Sheffield Star reporter Alex Evans was warned to stop filming the events and erase all his footage – including potentially important video evidence of the violence, because he did not have permission to film in the station as it is private property.
When he resisted the request, he was told he could be arrested under anti-terrorism laws.
James Mitchinson, editor of the Star, told The Guardian: “To cite anti-terror laws is clearly nonsense.
“But this case illustrates just how difficult it can be to report the news, on the spot when, increasingly, authorities are seeking to ‘manage’ it.
“This wasn’t a PR stunt; it was an extraordinary event that couldn’t have been predicted and it was very much in the public interest that people were made aware of what was going on.
George Arthur, aged 64, and Tony Nuttall, 65, have been charged with failure to pay and obstructing police.
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