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- The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to any democratic society.
- The Government’s Policing Act curtailed this most fundamental right with the Home Secretary now empowered to arrest anyone causing “serious annoyance” during a protest with sentences of up to 10 years in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.
- Best for Britain campaigned against this bill, successfully getting some elements removed.
- This act was a distinctly authoritarian move by a Government terrified of scrutiny. It is part of their broader effort to close down all ways they can be held to account, on the streets, in the media and at the ballot box.
- The Government cited Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain as cause to clamp down on protests but these groups already don’t abide by the existing rules so why would we expect them to abide by the new? The new law does however restrict groups that organise large scale peaceful demonstrations within the rule of law.
- Asking already stretched frontline officers to enforce laws banning peaceful protest with such ambiguous parameters is unwise and will only open them up to criticism and legal challenges.
- The UK rightly offered refuge to pro-democracy protestors in Hong Kong, fleeing persecution by Beijing. But we only know about their plight because they protested loudly. Those arriving from Hong Kong now find themselves in a country which also limits the right to protest.
- Our authority in standing up to autocrats in Beijing and Moscow is reduced when we’re cracking down on protest at home