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GOVERNMENT ATTACKED BY ‘DRACONIAN’ LEGISLATION
Organizations like the RSPB, Liberty and Friends of the Earth have written to Priti Patel and Robert Buckland to raise concerns about “draconian” legislation to boost police powers.
The draft law on police, crime, sentencing and courts is “rushing through Parliament” during the coronavirus pandemic and will have “profound implications” for the public, the groups warned.
Nearly 250 groups signed the letter, warning that there had been too little time to properly examine the legislation, which MPs were considering on Monday.
The letter sent to the Minister of the Interior and the Secretary of Justice stated: “This bill not only contains numerous threats to the right to peaceful protest and access to the countryside, it criminalizes the way of life of Roma and nomadic communities, as well as to a whole host of expansive policing powers, but it is being rushed through Parliament during a pandemic and before civil society and the public have fully understood its profound implications. “
The letter called for a fundamental rethinking of the approach taken by ministers, saying the bill “represents an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens, particularly those of marginalized communities, and is being pushed forward at a time and in a way in which those who will be subject to its provisions are less able to respond. “
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