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Protesters are demonstrating in central London and 24 other towns and cities in England and Wales on Saturday against an anti-crime bill that critics say will severely restrict the right to organize demonstrations.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which passed its second reading in parliament last month, will amend existing public order legislation to make it easier for police to ban or shut down peaceful protests. if they are considered too disruptive or likely to lead to a disorder.
Opponents of the bill have called it an attack on the right to protest and a step towards authoritarianism. They warn that along with new laws granting state agents a license to commit crimes while undercover and changes in the judicial system, the balance of power is shifting toward the authorities, eroding individual freedoms.
London police warned people not to join the rallies, writing in an open letter posted online that anyone who attends a meeting in violation of coronavirus regulations may be committing a crime.
In addition to London, protests under the slogan “Eliminate the bill” are expected in Aberystwyth, Bath, Birmingham, Bournemouth, Brighton, Bristol, Cambridge, Cardiff, Derby, Exeter, Folkestone, Kendal, Lancaster, Lincoln, Liverpool, Luton, Manchester. , Newcastle, Northampton, Norwich, Nottingham, Oxford, Plymouth and Portsmouth.
The latest demonstrations come after Bristol police were convicted of suppressing three protests against the bill last month, with riot police and dogs dispatched to clear the streets three times in the city in the space of a week.
Since then, Covid regulations have been relaxed and protests are now legal in England and Wales, provided the protest organizers conduct a risk assessment and take steps to limit the possible transmission of the coronavirus.
Protesters in London are expected to gather at Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park starting at 1pm. Expected speakers include Jeremy Corbyn, Labor MPs Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Apsana Begum, Clive Lewis and Zarah Sultana, and civil rights activists Peter Tatchell and Lee Jasper.
Representatives from UK Black Lives Matter, All Black Lives, Global Majority, Extinction Rebellion and the Roma, Roma and Nomad communities are also expected to speak.
Address the reasons for the protest in a video posted on Twitter on FridayCorbyn said: “The right to protest is precious. Protest movements make history, from the eight-hour workday, to the vote of women, to the right to equal pay, the rights we take for granted had to be earned through protest. We carry them; the rich and powerful did not give them to us.
“From opposing apartheid to the Iraq war, I am proud to have protested injustice and to have stood up for self-rights. That right, which gives a voice to those who are often not heard, is again threatened by a dangerous bill that effectively criminalizes peaceful protest. ”
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