This weekend activists from North Staffs Green party will join trades unionists and civil liberties campaigners in exercising a right the government wants to remove; that to engage in public protest.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill introduced
by the government has, rightly, been the focus of concern for the threat is
poses to basic civil liberties. A range of amendments introduced to the bill
without the opportunity for scrutiny, described by Green Party peer Jenny Jones
as ‘draconian,’ will make its provisions even more dangerously illiberal.
A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said, ‘the
right to protest is fundamental to democracy, it is through protest that we
make those in power of our unwillingness to accept injustice.’
Responding to the first iteration of the bill in March
last year Liberty said it represented the ‘dismantling of hard-won and
deeply cherished rights to freely assemble and express dissent’ [4].
These include criminalizing any protest deemed to be
interfering with infrastructure such as roads, expand police ‘stop and search’
powers to allow them to search any vehicle or person suspected of carrying
material that could be used in an illegal protest, and to stop and search
without suspicion any individual in an area where they believe a protest my
occur.
This is directly aimed at criminalizing the activities
of legitimate protesters who used direct action to highlight issues such as
climate change and animal rights. The bill, if passed, would give the police
the power to stop any demonstration on the orders of the government.
As a briefing issued by the Green Party states ‘These
are dictatorial powers that would remove some of our most basic democratic
rights and freedoms. They would enable the government, or future governments,
to turn the UK into a police state’ [1].
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is due
to be debated in the House of Lords on 10th, 12th, and 17th
January. Green and Liberal Democrat peers have consistently opposed the bill
and the latest slate of amendments. Labour and Independent peers have failed,
to date, to offer consistent opposition the Greens are calling for them to join
their colleagues in voting down the amendments.
A national protest will be held in Parliament Square
at 10:00 am on Wednesday 12th January, there will also be smaller
protests staged around the country over the following days [2]. There is also a
petition on 38Degrees, which can be signed by going to [3].
A local protest event will take place at Hanley Bus
Station on Saturday 15th January beginning at midday, details can be
accessed on Facebook at:
https://www.facebook.com/events/616173966276071
A spokesperson for North Staffs Green Party said, ‘we
are proud to be taking to the streets in solidarity with trades unionists and
other campaigners who are coming together to defend our right to speak truth to
power; particularly when those who hold it do not want to listen.’
[2]https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/protest-for-the-right-to-protest-tickets-236760967427
[3]https://speakout.38degrees.org.uk/campaigns/stop-the-attacks-on-our-democratic-rights-policing-bill
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