MAYOR'S SHOW FIGHTING Labour Party slams

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increasingly irritated Len Murray, like an unwilling host picking through the wreckage of an all-night party and trying to sober up the hung-over survivors, to begin the task of attempting to limit the September 22 action, and straighten up the political furniture.

Guess what! We're going to ignore ASLEF has now called for joint talks with NUR and TSSA on what action should be taken on the •railways.

Murray's salvage job has been assisted by Michael Foot and by Labour's key 'man-on-the-make' the vote on pay policy! The following statement is issued by the Executive of Oxford City Labour Party THE Oxford City Labour Party wishes to express its extreme disquiet at the following aspects of the 'Operation Major' police operation and the subsequent magistrates' hearings and trials in Oxford:1. Wrongful arrest of over 100 innocent people.

During the day-long police operation on Thursday September 2 all members of the public who were claiming Social Security or accompanying claimants were held under arrest. Det. Supt. George Hodgson is reported in the press (Daily Telegraph 3/9/82) as saying 'We knocked off everyone who went into the building today.' In all 114 members of the public were released without charge, innocent of any offence. They had been held under arrest for periods up to 8 hours.

The holding of over a hundred people just because they attended Police lead off a claimant Social Security office is an outrage. If innocent people attending tax office were arrested and held for hours while a tax fraud | investigation was being conducted, or if innocent people in a department store were arrested and held for hours while a shoplifting case was being investigated, there would be a public outcry.

We regard this mass arrest as an illegal and wrongful arrest, which shows on the part of the police organisers of this operation a complete contempt for the legal rights and civil liberties of members of the public exercising their statutory rights to claim Social Security. We demand a public investigation into these mass wrongful arrests. 2. Photographing and Fingerprinting of innocent people.

All those arrested were photographed and many fingerprinted without choice. The necessary magistrates' orders for fingerprinting were not obtained by the police. When people were released by the police on Thursday without being charged they were not given their photographs and fingerprints despite asking for them. We regard this as an outrageous misuse of police power and a breach of the law protecting citizens' rights. Again we demand a full public investigation. 3. Conditions in which people were held under arrest on Thursday.

We protest at the appalling conditions under which people were held in South Oxford Middle School on Thursday. One 18 year old who was released without charge is reported as saying that: 'there was no room to stand or move about. It was like Belsen' (Sun 3/9/82). In particular we consider it disgraceful that one young man, who was later released without any charge, was publicly strip-searched. 4. Denial of legal representation.

During the course of the police operation none of those arrested were allowed legal representation despite request. Even when brought before magistrates on Thursday for remand hearings some defendants were denied legal representation despite requesting it. Probation officers were unable to make reports at the remand hearings. There is a strong indication that both police and some magistrates were bypassing the legal rights of those charged to set up a system of conveyor-belt trials. 5. The Trials.

We are alarmed at the rate at which the trials