Dear All
One of the Stop the War Coalition activists who has been working on the stall and been involved in a number of our protests in the town has been singled out in a witchunt conducted by the Chronicle into the Newcastle Sunderland match last year in which the paper has been conducting a guilty campaign on the say so of the police. The consequence of which are serious for Chris. I have protested in this letter to the Chronicle which I doublt will be published.
Roger
Chronicle
Dear Editor
I would like to protest in the strongest possible terms against the article you
published by Adam Jupp, "Shocking Statistics Reveal Extent of Soccer
Violence." Not only does this article seem to be aimed at diverting attention
when Newcastle fans are protesting against the corporate greed that is
destroying football but it unjustly labels many supporter involved as thugs
on the police say so.
The article names Chris Brannan in this way as the so-called 50th soccer
hooligan. The fact is Chris is a loyal Newcastle supporter who admitted to
throwing some of his bottled water over a policeman in full riot gear with
dog. He also admitted to condemning the police action in charging the fans
with riot police batons and horses as fascist because there was not a
Sunderland fan in sight and he felt the police action was unprovoked. The
article does not report what he said but reports him as "hurling abuse".
I have personally known Chris Brannan for many years and he is not a thug
or a hooligan. In fact Chris is one of the kindest people I know always keen
to help people in the community where he lives and is well liked.
Recently we took part together in naming of the dead ceremony of the 100
soldiers killed in Afghanistan attended by ourselves and military families as a
protest to the government invasion and occupation of that country as well
as Iraq. It is interesting to note that whilst the journalist and your paper are
quick to condemn these young people as thugs, using a two page spread
and to print their picture and give out their address, you are very slow to
condemn the real thugs in 10 Downing Street who have carried out war
crimes in our name that have led to the death of so many people in Iraq and
Afghanistan and who are responsible for the death, wounding and maiming
of so many British soldiers and whose policies are also devastating the
communities in which we live.
Yours faithfully
Roger Nettleship
