Wearing Kirpan At The London Olympics 2012

[M_Singh1970]

Make sure that you print the letter and 'list of the prohibited items' on this thread and take them with you. If you get hassle then ask to speak to their superiors and also make sure that you take names. By refusing you entry on the basis of the kirpan they are breaking the promise they have made with the Sikh community and should be taken to court.

I think the letter applies only to Olympic venues other than football. See the link below

http://www.london2012.com/mm/Document/Documents/General/01/25/83/91/WembleyStadiumprohibitedandrestricteditems_Neutral.pdf

If I had known this prior to ordering the tickets I wouldn't have bought any.

[hsinghGB]

Vaheguru Ji Ka Khalsa, Vaheguru Ji Ke Fateh

The ITV news website carries the news report of the Gursikh family mentioned in an earlier post that was denied entry to the Ricoh arena for the Olympics football because of their kirpans.

It also displays the response from LOCOG as:

"London 2012’s policy is to allow the Kirpan into all of our competition venues as long as the length of the sheath (not including the hilt) is no longer than 6 inches and is present with the other Articles of Faith. At the time of making this policy, we were not fully aware of the existing restrictions on Kirpans in the football venues and we have unfortunately been unable to change the existing regulations. We apologise for the confusion this has caused, we have and will continue to explain the situation through direct communication with spectators and on our website.”

– LOCOG (London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games)

Videos of the news report as broadcast on ITV central news are also given on the webpage:

http://www.itv.com/n...-olympic-games/

The LOCOG website states the following and gives banned item lists for each Olympic football venue:

"The security procedure for the Olympic Football Tournament is different to other venues. Please ensure you have read the correct list of prohibited and restricted items for your stadium."

This information MAY have been added recently though, following the above compliant.

http://www.london201...y-and-security/

The LOCOG website prohibited item list for the main Olympic park venues does state our Sikh kirpan is permitted but does not stipulate the sheath length limit - see attachment. It again states Olympic football venues have different lists of prohibited items (this MAY also be a recent amendment for clarification).

Following the tragic events of 9/11 and 7/7 the necessary security searches that have been implemented at major events have been leading to regular issues with respect to our kirpan, although some places are pragmatic and allow entry. The law allowing us to carry our kirpan has existed in the UK for a long time but the problem is any venue reserves the right to refuse someone entry, with discrimination a grey area and lack of knowledge about the kirpan a big issue.

Looking past the Olympics, we could lobby Parliament to improve our rights rather than Sikh organisations having a lengthy dialogue with each and every venue for every event in advance as that is impractical, can lead to this type of misunderstanding and is impossible to do for every place a Gursikh may visit in the UK. Only concerns being that such a campaign could make things worse if the right wing media latch onto it and loopholes would probably still exist. Biggest problem is the lack of knowledge about the kirpan and the Sikh religion in general, especially outside multicultural areas.

Although the misunderstanding has led to some Gursikhs being out of pocket etc. (hope they are refunded), respect and thanks to LOCOG for at least allowing the kirpan into venues under their direct control. It's a pity the football stadiums could not be as pragmatic.

Prohibitedandrestricteditemslists_Neutral-2.pdf

[Karku_007]

I am sure that the link to the Guidance by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, which is a statutory non-departmental public body (NDPB)— set up by Parliament, has been posted before.

The Guidance explains the current UK legislation as related to Sikhs as well as 'good practice' examples.

http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/publications/guidance-and-good-practice-publications/general-guidance/#sikharticles