Condemned Met Police anti-terror law arrest of French publisher

Following the deployment of anti-terror laws to detain a French publisher as he arrived in London, two publishers as well as the National Union of Journalists have criticized the police.

In accordance with anti-terrorism laws, Ernest Moret was searched after arriving from Paris on Monday.

His employer said that he was halted due to his supposed participation in protests against the French pension age.

According to the Metropolitan Police, a guy was detained for obstructing traffic.

Police said that the individual had been released on bail on Tuesday night.

When Mr. Moret took the Eurostar to St. Pancras station to attend the London Book Fair, he was held. Mr. Moret is an employee of the Paris-based publisher Editions La Fabrique.

Officers explained that they had stopped him in accordance with Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000, which gives the police broad authority to search individuals at border crossings to determine whether they are associated with terrorism.

Under these authorities, police can stop and search anyone at borders without requiring any justification.

Mr. Moret was transported to Islington police station in north London after refusing to provide officials the passcodes to his phone, according to Editions La Fabrique and a partnering London publisher, Verso Books.

According to a statement from the Met, ports officers stopped a 28-year-old man as he entered St. Pancras station at around 1930 hours on Monday, April 17 exercising their authority under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000.

The guy was subsequently detained on Tuesday, April 18, on suspicion of willfully impeding a Schedule 7 examination (in violation of section 18 of the Terrorism Act 2000). Investigations continue.

Editions La Fabrique and Verso Books called the detention a “abuse of anti-terrorism laws” and a “outrageous and unjustifiable infringement” of the right to free speech.

Officers allegedly informed Mr. Moret, a manager of international rights, that he had participated in protests against President Emmanuel Macron’s decision to raise the retirement age in France from 62 to 64; the contentious pension changes were signed into law last week.

“The police officers claimed that Ernest had participated in demonstrations in France as a justification for this act,” Editions La Fabrique and Verso Books said in a joint statement. “This is quite remarkably inappropriate for a British police officer to say and seems to clearly indicate complicity between French and British authorities on this matter.

He was forced to hand over his phone and pass codes to the police without being given a reason or an explanation. Ernest was officially detained this morning and taken to a police station after being charged with obstruction for his reluctance to surrender his pass codes.

“It’s an extremely frightening kind of event when somebody who is just conducting their professional activity coming to a book fair in London can be treated in this kind of way as if they’re public enemy number one,” Sebastian Budgen, senior editorial director at Verso Books and a friend of Mr. Moret, told the BBC.

“[Editions La Fabrique] is a left-leaning publisher… France has experienced months of widespread protests, and I believe that from their perspective, anyone who is a dissident or who is associated with a dissident publisher could perhaps be a criminal.

“Ernest, a manager of international rights, is 28 years old. He is not particularly powerful or influential. I believe they simply determined he would be an excellent target to test their intelligence.

It “seems extraordinary,” said to Pamela Morton, senior books and magazine organizer at the National Union of Journalists, that British police used anti-terror laws to detain a publisher “who was on legitimate business here.”

The British government was urged to swiftly free Mr. Moret in an open letter published in the news magazine L’Obs and signed by French publishers and authors.

We also call on the French government to step in and ensure the safety of its citizens from such oppressive actions, it continued.