ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the authors explore police stereotypes of protestors, and their relations with third parties with a vested interest in protest. In an attempt to prevent opponents breaking up their agm, the bnp kept the venue for the agm a closely guarded secret, refusing even to tell the police where it was to be held. When the same protestors attempted to obstruct the main vehicle entrance to the Palace of Westminster on a subsequent occasion, they were immediately arrested, since police felt duty-bound, under the terms of the Sessional Order, to ensure unimpeded access of members and peers to the Palace. South Africa House had posed a continuing problem to the police for several years prior to this research, for it had been the site of persistent protest by the City of London Anti-Apartheid Group, a group with whom the police had repeatedly come into conflict.
