‘Security issue not an attack on free speech’

Mr Piesing, pictured right, a prominent figure in Guernsey’s finance industry, was detained by a plain-clothes officer when he entered the departure lounge on Thursday.

The officer purportedly said his social media activity had raised concerns, yet Mr Piesing said the officer failed to produce any concrete examples of wrongdoing.

The spokesman said the extra checks had been undertaken after concerns were raised about online comments made by Mr Piesing.

‘Bailiwick Law Enforcement’s primary responsibility is the safety and security of those who live and work in our islands,’ he said.

‘In this instance, which has received considerable attention, legitimate safety and security concerns were raised by the content of a social media post issued last month.

‘For this reason and this reason alone, an individual was spoken with when he next travelled through the airport.’

It was not stated what the concerning content was.

Mr Piesing rejected this account of events.

‘It doesn’t stack up at all, and is clearly libellous, which absolutely must be and will be addressed,’ he said.

‘The officer didn’t specifically mention any social media posts. He merely mentioned that concerns had been raised by “somebody” about some of them.’

The spokesman rejected any suggestion that Mr Piesing was advised not to make negative comments about the airport again.

‘He was advised that using certain terminology when directly referencing the airport could be misinterpreted,’ he said.

‘In any instance where specific, inappropriate language with security implications is used publicly, Law Enforcement cannot be complacent.

‘Law Enforcement would never use officers to prevent open debate about airport services or any other matter of fair public interest. This was a security issue, not a free speech issue.’

The spokesman added that the officer involved had acted appropriately.

‘That said, the member of the public concerned has been directed to the police complaints process and is welcome to make a complaint if they are unhappy with how Law Enforcement has engaged with them, and our officers will of course comply fully with any complaints process,’ the spokesman said.

‘Because of the need to respect this complaints process, it is not possible to comment in further detail publicly at this stage.

The Office of the Data Protection Authority has confirmed that a formal complaint had been received relating to the alleged processing of personal data by a number of Bailiwick controllers.

The story generated quite a response online.

One Guernsey Press reader was concerned that GDPR laws could have been violated.

‘What’s worrying here is that the police had the data and information to know that Mr Piesing was travelling and were able to intercept him within the departures area of the airport. How did they know that?’

‘There has been a serious breach of data protection laws here because the only reason that such information can be passed on is if there is reason to believe a crime is about to be committed’

Another users questioned the decision to interrupt Mr Piesing’s travels.

‘If (and that is debatable) the police felt they needed to speak to Mr Piesing why didn’t they either phone him or pay him a home visit?,’ they wrote.

Some users believed the police had infringed upon free speech.

‘Freedom of speech is at the core of western democratic society, clearly this attempt at “re-education” by the police was fully supported somewhere by someone in authority and is a quite disgraceful.’