Tucker in London's Parliament Square, March 2012

Barbara Grace Tucker is an Australian born peace activist.[1] She is a native of the Melbourne[2] suburb of Glen Waverley and travelled widely before settling in Britain in the early 1980s.

Brian Haw (on crutches) with Barbara Grace Tucker at Christmas 2009

She joined the London Parliament Square Peace Campaign of Brian Haw in December 2005. This round-the-clock campaign had been initiated by Haw in June 2001 to protest the sanctions against Iraq which had devastated Iraqi society and had, according to UNICEF, killed some 500,000 children.[3] In the seven years or so since Tucker's arrival she has been arrested 47 times–usually on charges of "unauthorised demonstration". In 2008 she served two weeks in prison for breach of police bail,[4] and in 2011 she served a nine-week prison sentence in Holloway Prison.[5]

She has been denied a tent, blankets, or sleeping bag since January 2012 and has instead slept in a chair until that, too, was taken away. Tucker has been treated for exposure and has spent some time on an intravenous drip. In January 2013 Tucker started a hunger strike after protesting in the square for a total of eight years.[6] She and her supporters vowed to continue their demonstration, and did so until later in 2013.[7]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Barbara Grace Tucker.
  1. ↑ "Parliament camp protester to take fight to Europe". BBC UK. 27 April 2011. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  2. ↑ "The Aussie peace protester of London". www.australiantimes.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 April 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  3. ↑ "Iraq surveys show 'humanitarian emergency'". UNICEF. Archived from the original on 6 August 2009. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  4. ↑ "Turning a blind eye to authoritarianism". www.morningstaronline.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  5. ↑ "Barbara Grace Tucker". The Independent. London. 1 September 2011. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  6. ↑ "Parliament Square peace protester stages hunger strike". www.standard.co.uk. 4 January 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  7. ↑ "Peace at last! Final anti-war protesters leave Parliament Square after 12 years". Evening Standard. 9 May 2013. Retrieved 6 July 2021.

Documentaries

  • Brian & Co. Parliament Square SW1 (by Yumiko Hayakawa)
  • Letters from Parliament Square (by Carlos Serrano Azcona)
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