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(Not written by me) Police arrested autistic activist in supported housing as part of Quaker raid operation Exclusive: Joe Booth, 23, says he has PTSD after arrest in which seven officers entered his flat when he was in bed Daniel Boffey Chief reporter Sun 22 Jun 2025 07.00 BST The Met police operation in which officers raided a Quaker meeting house also resulted in the arrest of an autistic climate activist at his supported accommodation, the Guardian can reveal. Joe Booth, 23, was in bed when seven police officers arrived at the flats for vulnerable adults in New Barnet, north London, to arrest him on suspicion of conspiracy to cause a public nuisance. The arrest appeared to be linked to his attendance at weekly meetings of Youth Demand, an off-shoot of Just Stop Oil that describes itself as a nonviolent protest movement. The evening before his arrest, up to 30 Met officers broke down the front door of a Quaker meeting house to arrest six female members of the group in what appears to be a linked raid. It is thought to be the first time that police had forced their way into a place of worship used by the pacifist Quaker movement. The raid has been heavily criticised by politicians, campaigners and religious groups. Booth, who claims to have never been involved in disruptive protest and to have previously attended one peaceful Youth Demand march on Downing Street, said the arrest had left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. He said the officers who arrested him appeared to be surprised that he lived in supported accommodation for vulnerable adults. After a support worker let the police into his flat, an officer had grabbed his arm, he claimed, and asked whether “I need to put you in handcuffs” before reading him his rights. “They did not know until they turned up that I lived in supported accommodation,” claimed Booth, who is a cleaner on the London underground. “When they arrested me, they said to me: ‘Joe, is this supported accommodation?’ They didn’t know. You would think there would be a system in place when they are going to an address to say this is a care setting.” Booth was in his pyjamas when the police arrived. They searched his bedroom and seized his work phone. He was then taken on a two-hour drive to Kingston police station where he was questioned and held for more than seven hours. He was released on police bail with conditions that included a ban on him entering Westminster. Booth, whose brother was allowed to attend the police interview as an “appropriate adult” due to his vulnerability, said: “They showed me pictures of protests that I wasn’t even in. They showed me pictures of [information about] upcoming events, only a few of which were actually protests, the other which were just meetings and free food events. So they didn’t tell me at any point what evidence they had on me and why they got me and how they even knew my face.” He had previously attended Youth Demand meetings at the Quaker meeting hall on St Martin’s Lane in London where attenders enjoyed a spread of jasmine tea, ginger biscuits and a selection of vegan cheese straws. Youth Demand had been planning a series of 10-minute protests as part of a “Shut Down London” campaign and Booth had handed out leaflets promoting the group’s actions in opposition to arms sales to Israel and a lack of action on fossil-fuel harm, he said. Booth, whose father is John Leach, the assistant general secretary of the RMT union, claimed: “I was only planning to spread news of the events. I’m not at a stage in my life where I’m ready to risk going to prison. “Like all autistic people, I can often struggle to understand certain messages that are told to me, which is why I often need staff with me when I receive letters, because I interpret things differently and I also can’t survive without structure and routine. So when that gets disrupted by ongoing issues that becomes a problem.” Booth said the arrest, which will raise fresh questions about the overpolicing of protest groups, had seriously affected his mental health. He said: “Every time I hear noise in the corridor, even from a distance, I get scared that it might be police, especially when there’s a knock at my door, especially if that knock at my door is early in the morning. “But even if it’s just from support staff or Amazon delivery or whatever, I get scared that it might be police. So my alertness has increased and my anxiety has increased. And I see a therapist every single week, because I always have and he’s in full knowledge of how it’s been affecting me.” Booth had previously been arrested in June 2024 on the same grounds after attending Just Stop Oil meetings, he said, but again released on police bail without charge. Booth claimed he had never been involved in their disruptive activities. “I remember specifically going to meetings and saying, ‘I have not been at a protest,’” he said. “It has left me bewildered.” It is understood that the Met believed Booth had been involved in disruptive protest in the past, which he denies. A Met police spokesperson said: “Youth Demand stated an intention to ‘shut down’ London over the month of April. “We have a responsibility to intervene to disrupt and prevent activity that crosses the line from lawful protest into criminality and serious disruption that adversely impacts the lives of ordinary Londoners. “The proactive police activity on Thursday 27 March and Friday 28 March took place on the basis of intelligence that those arrested were involved in conspiring to cause serious disruption. They remain on bail while our investigations continue. “Officers will always take into account an arrested person’s mental and physical health, carrying out full risk assessments to ensure they can be cared for appropriately while in police custody. Those processes were followed in this case.” Source: The Guardian

This event (on 3 July) may be of interest. It's hosted by IBM at their Client Centre in London - which, incidentally, is not their UK HQ (that's in Portsmouth). A day of workshops and networking focused on ensuring careers in cyber security are made accessible to everyone. The workshops will educate and offer constructive advice and guidance for both employees and employers. The workshops: Exploring the gender gap in cyber security – has anything made a difference yet? Combatting stress and burnout in cyber security .. from surviving to thriving How to tap into the neurodiverse workforce to plug the skills gap Physical disability: addressing the accessibility challenges faced in a technical security career Book on Eventbrite

Hi all, I’m new to this forum and joined because I wanted to communicate with - and possibly meet - women of a similar age to me (mid fifties) with Aspergers. I have a couple of male friends, who I can confide in, but no female friends, just a few colleagues and acquaintances. It would really be something for me to have a female friend I could trust and be myself with – something I think most women take for granted. I suppose I’m a typical Aspie: I love science, sci-fi and animals, and have, I've been told, ‘the social skills of a wombat’ (although that’s probably unfair to wombats). I’m in my mid-50s and pass as more or less normal, albeit as a shy, anxious type, but I am SO tired of trying to fit in, and beating myself up every time I commit a social faux-pas. Gxx

When: Friday 23rd October 2015 10:30 - 17:00 Where: The Royal College of Surgeons, 35-43 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, WC2A 3PE. Nearest tube: Holborn The Diversity Careers Show offers you a range of opportunities to explore what's is really like to work within a diverse company. Throughout the course of the event we are providing you with a multitude of options to improve your career prospects through engaging workshops, 1-2-1 CV advice and interview technique practice and panel discussions. The employers attending this show are here because they want to bring people like you into their organisations. They understand the multitude of benefits that come with having a diverse workforce. Creativity and innovation are made possible by having a team of individuals who work and think differently. Details and times of workshops and seminars to be released soon.... For more information and to register click here

"Autism in the Workplace": workshop at the Workers' Education Association (WEA), 4 Luke Street London, EC2A 4XW. Nearest stations: Old Street (tube / rail), Shoreditch High Street (Overground) 25 March 2015, 9.30 – 16.30 Sponsored by the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) and including participation from Simpson Millar solicitors. The course is for union reps, officers and members of all unions. More information and booking here

That's St Clement Danes as in the St Clement's of "Oranges and Lemons" fame. I wonder if any of Goldman Sachs's Asperger employees will be among the performers? One of GS's offices is a short distance away in Fleet Street. Booking information here.

So... what do you think... it's on C4 right now, hasn't been on long, is looking very artistically colourful... Any thoughts? (obviously the programme needs to finish first) I just wanted to set this up ready for those Olympic and Paralympic addicts (like me) out there who want to talk about it And is it just me... but how come the Paralympics has to be on so long after the Olympics? I can handle it changing channels but why the delay? Why don't the Paralympics follow straight on from the Olympics? Is there an actual reason? And is it just me that thinks it should all be one massive set of games - for all - and not split like that? Isn't that supposed to be the message the Olympics give out, that they unite everyone?

Ok, so even though it's late, and I'm pretty damn tired, I figure this has to be done right, so here's a post to mark the end of the Olympics 2012 (until the Paralympics start lol). We won 65 medals in total, coming third in the medals table after USA and China. That's - 29 Gold medals - 17 Silver medals - 19 Bronze medals I'm leaving out any negatives in this opening message because there were so many good things - and in some ways I preferred it to the opening ceremony because it had a relaxed atmosphere. For me the highlights of the closing ceremony were the people playing the bins and sweeping (not gonna go into interpretative and descriptive details here - if you watched it - you know what I mean - if you didn't - then it shouldn't matter) I liked Waterloo sunset. Russell Brand was pretty good with the psychedelic bus singing I am the walrus. Fatboy Slim and the giant octopus were great The cannon with Eric Idle sliding out and then singing Always look on the bright side of life - made me laugh after LancsLad psychically posted it in the "what's everyone listening to" post a short time ago - thankfully tonight was a night where it made me laugh The ballet thing was pretty cool - showed a edgy side a lot of people don't see, even if they only got a polite and short lived cheer and round of applause... Brian May was excellent. The flame obviously - seeing it come down and eventually go out was kinda the thing that made me stop and think about this being over in some ways, and hoping it isn't in others... And The Who did a great job of taking the attention away from that, and god he can still belt out a song. Now I have little need to watch TV again.... gonna have to find something else to fill my time Anyone watch it? Anyone sad it's over? What you gonna do with your free time?

Hi everyone, I'm a researcher at University College London conducting an experiment into the visual attention ability and time perception ability of high functioning adults with ASD and Asperger syndrome. We think that under some circumstances people with autism might be better than other people at concentrating on a task despite distractions from other information. We hope that the results of our study will help us work out why people with autism find some tasks easier and some tasks more difficult than people without autism. To do this, we're looking for participants to come to Bloomsbury near Euston station for some simple behavioural tasks. We can pay for time and travel expenses up to a certain amount. None of this research can be done without people who are willing to participate in our study! I don't expect anyone to turn up to a study based on a forum post alone, so if you're in the London area and would be interested in taking part or know anyone else who is, please PM me and I'll send you some more information and my email address. Thanks!