On Saturday 18th April 2015, a group of activists occupied the old Bank of England building at 31 Castle Street in Liverpool. This huge building has sat empty for several years, while local homelessness services have seen a dramatic increase in demand for the help they provide. The Whitechapel Centre has reported a 32% rise in demand for the service over the last three years: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/whitechapel-centre-fears-new-year-8416181 The occupied bank has yesterday received papers for a court hearing about the occupation. The hearing will take place on the 28th of April. We are petitioning Liverpool City Council and the court judge to not evict the activists and to allow the centre to remain open indefinitely, to meet the acute needs of local people living in poverty. Article 25, Universal Declaration of Human Rights: (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. A "perfect storm" of central government cuts, stagnating wages and other unfavourable economic conditions have hit Merseyside the hardest out of any area in the country (While the national average cut in council budgets has been 2.9%, Merseyside councils are facing a reduction of 4.7%) and led to a dramatic increase in homelessness and housing issues, food poverty, fuel poverty and other types of material deprivation. Liverpool City Council has been instrumental in enacting cuts that have affected the most vulnerable members of the local community, and existing services are struggling to cope with the increased demand that this hardship is causing. http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/one-seven-merseyside-homes-living-7305611 http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/merseyside-foodbank-capital-country-according-6994144 http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/23/labour-austerity-benefit-cuts-deprived-areas-_n_3137416.html A group of concerned local people have decided this situation can no longer be tolerated. We have therefore set up the "Bank of Love" - the Jess James Community Outreach Centre - inside the abandoned building. As it was mainly the 2008 UK bank bailout that has led to the imposition of damaging austerity policies which are devastating out local communities, we feel it is apt that a former bank building should be used to house, feed and clothe those in need. Inside the bank we have set up a kitchen which has fed hundreds of people since the occupation began, and the big empty rooms above have housed many local people with nowhere else to go. Activists at the bank have also been providing food bags and free shoes and clothing to those in need. Government policy in the form of benefit sanctions (state-approved destitution) and the bedroom tax and changes to council tax benefit are leaving people unable to meet their most basic needs and the most basic needs of their families. Unless and until the government/local council addresses this ongoing breach of human rights, the centre must remain open.

We have very shameful and outrageous goings on regarding the sentencing of Robert Green. Not only was he sentenced for 250 hours of community service, but he has been gagged for the rest of his life not to speak about anything to do with the Hollie Greig case. If he does, he is immediately imprisoned for a maximum of 5 years !!! This is unacceptable and it is time to speak out for this man to be Exonerated and the injustice of this whole case. We ask People to Please Sign and Share to Show You Care... Robert was Imprisoned twice... Kept under House Arrest for a year and Now Gagged for Life by Scottish Law, to stop him Speaking Out helping Abuse Victims... We need more Signatures Thank you for helping to get Robert His Freedom of Speech Back... If we Stand Back & Let this Happen to Robert... Who Will Be Next... "Step Forward Without Fear"

Governments around the world seem to more interested in preserving their economic links in arms and oil trade with them than standing up for the horrific human rights abuses that this country continues to perpetrate. https://www.amnesty.org/en/articles/news/2015/03/saudi-arabia-in-ten-brutal-facts/ The world shouts loud about wanting to stop ISIS but according to a US memo leak Saudi donors constituted “the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide”, so are we in effect supporting ISIS by continuing trade with Saudi Arabia? http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/31/combat-terror-end-support-saudi-arabia-dictatorships-fundamentalism

The Sri Lankan police has a long history of human rights abuses and vicious attacks. Amnesty International’s latest annual report into Sri Lanka alleged that unlawful detentions and torture by security forces were carried out routinely. Since 2007, the Scottish Police College has trained thousands of Sri Lankan officers - including some senior commanders. But training has failed to protect human rights in Sri Lanka. Siobhan Reardon, Amnesty International's programme director in Scotland, said: “Human rights campaigners and family members of people subjected to enforced disappearance were threatened and arrested, and fatal attacks on religious minorities went unpunished.” Also a UN report commissioned by secretary general Ban Ki-Moon found that as many as 40,000 Tamil civilians may have been killed in the last months of the civil war in May 2009, mostly through indiscriminate shelling by Sri Lankan security forces. The police training reform project is funded by the Foreign Office (FCO), was supposed to embed "international standards in police training." But a recent FCO report found instances of torture, deaths in police custody, police abductions and instances of suspects shot and killed as they attempted to flee. The current contract will end on 31 March 2015, but it could be renewed. Police Scotland should not enable human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Please listen to the Scottish public, Tamil community and human rights campaigners. Please sign this petition and stop Police Scotland enabling human rights abuses in Sri Lanka. Tamil Solidarity and a number of diaspora campaigners support this petition.

Afghan government minister, Mr. Hussain Alami Balkhi, has stated that returned refugees will not be accepted and will be turned away at the airport. Despite this warning, the UK government is still willing to waste thousands of taxpayers money, with an average charter flight costing £218,617, and the government having spent nearly £4m on deportations to Afghanistan in 2011/2. On 10th March 2015 the Home Office sadly went ahead with the deportation of 32 people to Afghanistan. However, 20 people were taken off the flight though, including Sherdil, Shafiq and Izatullah. Sources:https://kabulblogs.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/afghan-minister-for-refugees-and-repatriation-stop-deportation-to-afghanistan/http://www.corporatewatch.org/news/2013/jan/24/cost-charter-flight-deportations-increased-eight-fold-over-last-decade n We would like to continue collecting signatures to show opposition to further deportations whilst Afghanistan remains unsafe. We have more time now to really build our opposition- if we collect 100,000 signatures, the issue will have to be put forward for discussion in Parliament.

The Patriot Store is all pervasive on many pages on Facebook. Originally the domain was registered by Mr James Dowson (ex-BNP, ex-Britain First), but then transferred to Lionheart Products. EVERY Britain First, LionheartGB (and others) pages contain links to the Patriot Store. The newest page is Knights Templar International,which is being heavily promoted by Britain First. The website allows donations to be made (exactly the same as Britain First's), and it solicits donations from abroad. According to Electoral Commission rules, any donation of £500 or more must be returned to the donor if they are not on the UK Electoral Roll. It is urgent that the HMRC investigates the accounts of these 'businesses'. HMRC needs to find the links between the companies, just how many donations/profits are going to 'Britain First', whether or not the donations have come from abroad, and who is behind the entire 'group'.

The Laws for UK Spouse and Partner immigration are tearing families apart. A requirement of £18,600 in income or £62,500 in savings is placed solely on the UK spouse. At minimum wage this would involve working 55 hours a week, which is simply unavailable in this climate. Many families and partners of British citizens are stuck from returning home due to the strict financial requirements, whilst European residents walk freely into the country. Ironically the English speaking countries of Australia New Zealand and America also fall under this bracket, unlike countries such as Romania, Russia and Poland. House owners and highly skilled workers, are all prevented from returning to the UK, despite being in well paid jobs abroad, this is due to the lack of work in the UK that exceeds this requirement. The requirements do not consider assets such as house ownership, or partners earning capacity. Those with savings are prevented from investing in the country as only cash savings count when held for over 6 months are considered. A plea to reduce this requirement to around £13,000 was rejected by the high court claiming it did not infringe on the right to a family life. However it seems obvious it is. This is clearly a move to reduce immigration that has failed, it has isolated working and middle class families, and by its own admission ''did not consider any other factors but financial, and was based solely on central London'' Its other purpose was stated as being to stop dependence on state support, however this does not prevent foreign EU residents from claiming state support, only British citizens wishing to bring their partners and family home. This is a policy from the Tory government which has betrayed our rights as citizens and further divided our ability to have family lives. Typically to Tory politics, this was based on money and favoured the rich. Please sign the petition to bring our families and loved ones home, so we may not be replaced by the new wave of European immigration.

UPDATE 10th March 2015 the Home Office sadly went ahead with the deportation of 32 people to Afghanistan. HOWEVER 20 people were taken off the flight though, including Sherdil, Shafiq and Izatullah. We would like to continue collecting signatures to show opposition to further deportations whilst Afghanistan remains unsafe. We have more time now to really build our opposition- if we collect 100,000 signatures, the issue will have to be discussed in Parliament. NEW PETITION: 38degrees.org.uk/justiceforafghans An Afghan government minister, Mr. Hussain Alami Balkhi, has stated that returned refugees will not be accepted and will be turned away at the airport. Despite this warning, the UK government is still willing to waste thousands of taxpayers money, with an average charter flight costing £218,617, and the government having spent nearly £4m on deportations to Afghanistan in 2011/2. Sources:https://kabulblogs.wordpress.com/2015/02/21/afghan-minister-for-refugees-and-repatriation-stop-deportation-to-afghanistan/ http://www.corporatewatch.org/news/2013/jan/24/cost-charter-flight-deportations-increased-eight-fold-over-last-decade

Barbaric Sexual Assault In Vrindavan On February 24, 2015 At 7 AM, in broad daylight, 82-year-old Chandrika Devi Dasi was raped and robbed at Kesi-ghat, Vrindavan. Chandrika is from Russia. She is a saintly vaisnavi and has come to Vrindavan to pass the final years of her life. In her advanced age has performed Vrindavan Parikrama everyday for the past five years. On February 24th, as she passed through Kesi-ghat, two Indian men, approximately 20 years of age, approached from behind and pushed her to the ground. One of the men stole her parikrama bag and ran away. The other man climbed upon her chest and held her mouth to keep her from screaming, pulled his genital from his cloth and while sitting upon her to keep her from moving, masturbated and passed semen on her chest. After his climax he jumped up to run away and a large knife fell from his cloth. He quickly grabbed the weapon and ran. By Krishna’s blessings Chandrika Devi Dasi broke no bones when she fell. She is shocked and traumatised by the event. Though there were pujaris at the Kesi-ghat temple but they did nothing to help. From her shock, and feeling of shame, she did not report the event to the police on the day that it happened. On the second day when I was informed I instructed her to file a First Information Report with the local police. She did so on February 25, 2015 I reported the incident to our Vrindavan Temple President he sent his legal assistant to deal with the local police. By Krishna's grace the criminals were captured within two days and legal proceedings have been opened against them. But, as events go in India, unless noise is made, they will simply pay a bribe and be released. What if someone tried to rape your 82 year old mother. What would you do ?

In order to prevent other young fathers/sons/nephews/uncles disappearing without a trace we feel that a number of failures by the police need to be brought to the knowledge to those at the top. Ambrose went missing after spending the evening in the Fox Pub with 2 friends. He was let out of the back of the pub by a security guard to look for his keys, which he had lost. We were informed by the FLO that Ambrose had been captured on CCTV getting int his car at Arnose Grove, 14 minutes later his car was involved in a crash. Ambrose has not been seen since. One of the friends Ambrose was out with, arrived at Ambrose's mums house at 08.00 hours, apparently within 7 hours of this person last seeing Ambrose. He informed Ruth that Ambrose had been involved in some fights, had crashed his car twice and had simply disappeared. This person also informed her that Ambrose's car had been towed away around 3 a.m. Ruth, Ambrose's mother reported all this to the police twice on the 24th January and once on the 25th January. Ever since Ambrose was reported missing there have been a number of incidences that have concerned us as a family. These are regarding the way the police have dealt with Ambrose's disappearance; the treatment and lack of support his mother Ruth has received from the police since Ruth Brought this to their attention; the inconsistencies in what the police have been telling the family and the failure of the police to follow the correct protocol in relation to the grading of Ambrose's disappearance. If you would like to know more about this case please go to Ambrose's goup which is called "Ambrose baall missing"..

The Government should stop British registered companies destroying the lives of tribal people and environment in India. Essar Energy is registered in Britain and is part of the same multinational giant that is involved in Stanlow Refinery in Cheshire. It is planning to dig coal in Madhya Pardesh province of India, which is the same state where in Bhopal poisonous gas from a chemical plant operated by Union Carbide (part of an American multinational) in 1984 killed many thousands innocent people and left even greater number with permanent serious health problems. Mahan Forest which Essar Energy may be destroying is one of the oldest Sal tree forest in Asia. It is sanctuary for wild life including some endangered species. Many thousand tribal people in the area also make sustainable living from collection of forest produce. So they are campaigning to save their culture and sustainable mode of living with the help of Green Peace India. Although on paper Indian laws provide protection for tribal people. Some people have alleged that to get around Indian laws that provide some protection to tribal communities, fake documents were created by some parties involved. The new Government of India under Prime Minister Modi (who was chief minister of Gujarat when in 2002 nearly thousand innocent citizens of India were killed by religious extremists and some his colleagues were found guilty of those crimes in 2012) is not only supporting this environmental vandalism but has also started to intimidate those who are helping the tribal people. Soon after coming to power Modi led BJP Government of India froze the funds of Green Peace India, which has since been judged to be illegal action by the High Court. Recently lawyer Ms Pryia Pillai was on her way to London to meet all party group of MPs who are interested in the welfare of tribal people. But Indian authorities stopped her at Delhi airport under laws meant for absconding dangerous criminals and terrorist. So it is reasonable to suspect that the Modi led government is trying to intimidate environmental and human rights activists and stop them from letting British people know about the unethical involvement of British registered firms in destroying the lives of tribal people and environmental vandalism in a fellow Commonwealth member nation. Please sign the petition requesting Prime Minister Cameron to stop British registered firms indulging in unethical practises which may destroy the lives of tribal people and environment of Mahan Forest area in India or in other places. And object to Modi led Indian government hindering friendly people to people contacts between British and Indian citizens. Paramjit Bahia

Because the people of Thanet deserve to be served by councillors who aren't racist "Leadership - Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and by example, and should act in a way that secures or preserves public confidence."