Last week we reported that a Malaysian war crimes tribunal had found both former US President George W Bush and former British PM Tony Blair guilty of war crimes.
Today, a documentary film-maker in England shouted out the “guilty” verdict in front of Tony Blair – and a swag of media – calling for Blair’s arrest and gaining international coverage.
And having broken no laws in doing so, he is ready to do it all again!
Blair Protester Vows to Target Former PM Again
Exclusive: David Lawley-Wakelin talks to the Guardian about bursting into the Leveson inquiry and calling Tony Blair a ‘war criminal’
By Peter Walker, the Guardian – May 28, 2012
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/may/28/blair-protester-target-pm-again
The activist who burst into the Leveson inquiry to shout at Tony Blair as the former prime minister gave evidence had barely planned the protest and made his way into the courtroom unchallenged via a back staircase, he has told the Guardian.
David Lawley-Wakelin, a film-maker and teacher of film, who has made a documentary about the Iraq war, said he had now been released by police without charge or even a caution.
He disrupted proceedings on Monday when he emerged through a rear door to shout: “Excuse me. This man should be arrested for war crimes.”
The 49-year-old then made allegations about Blair being “paid off” by JP Morgan for his role in the conflict, yelling: “The man is a war criminal,” before he was dragged away. Blair immediately denied the allegations.
Lord Justice Leveson apologised to Blair and ordered an investigation into how the intruder gained access to court 73 at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Lawley-Wakelin said he had read about Blair’s appearance before Leveson only on Sunday and set off for the courts from his west London home on Monday morning with no idea at all how he might get in.
He got into the courts complex through the public entrance, a process which involves a bag x-ray and passing through a metal detector, before heading towards court 73.
He said: “I tried to go by the front stairs first and was asked to leave, and then I figured that there must be a back way in – how does Leveson himself get in? So I went down two floors, round the back, and then up the back stairs, and there was no one there. So I walked straight in.”
He was as surprised as anyone, Lawley-Wakelin admitted, when he first appeared just behind Leveson’s desk: “I thought, I’m not going to be able to do this. I nearly gave up, in fact. But when I figured out a way through it was fairly straightforward.”
None of his statements were directed at Blair himself. Lawley-Wakelin said: “I could see Blair out of the corner of my eye. I looked at him a couple of times. I was extremely nervous, and I didn’t know which way to look. I saw a mass of people straight ahead and I looked at them. I was trying to find the cameras but I couldn’t see them.”
He said he had decided in advance to not approach or remonstrate directly with the former PM: “No, because then you can get done for assault or something like that. Better to just say your piece.”
The security personnel who removed him were not too rough, he said: “I just said to them: ‘Look, I’m not going to do any more harm,’ because I didn’t want to get myself hurt. After that they listened to me and they treated me very gently indeed.”
After he was taken to a police station, that was the end of the matter, he said. “They just said, give us your word that you won’t be trying to get back into the court again. I said no, and they said it’s pretty obvious you won’t be able to anyway, because obviously the security will be tightened. So they let me go.”
While Blair took a directorship with JP Morgan after leaving office, among a number of commercial ventures, once Lawley-Wakelin was removed the former prime minister told Leveson that claims that his relationship with the bank was improper were “completely and totally untrue”.
Lawley-Wakelin described his impromptu plan as “a great bit of demonstrating”, saying that while he would not return to Leveson he would target Blair again: “Whenever Blair is in public he’d better look over his shoulder, as I’ll come back and do it again.”
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