4 days to protect the right to protest

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Hi John,

On Monday morning we're delivering our joint petition against the government's draconian new anti-protest rules in its policing bill, ahead of a vote by MPs next week.

Already, half a million people have signed, which shows the strength of feeling around the country against these measures. It’s not too late to sign the petition.

Will you add your signature now?

Add your name

Home secretary Priti Patel’s proposals are a brazen attack on the right to protest which will make it easier for the government and corporations to stifle dissent. The anti-protest measures would give police the power to choose when, where and how people can protest. They could criminalise protests which are too noisy or annoying – in other words, protests where people get their voices heard.

That’s why we’ve joined with nearly 250 charities, community groups and campaign organisations to warn that the bill represents “an attack on some of the most fundamental rights of citizens”. More than 700 legal scholars called the bill “draconian” and warned of “an alarming extension of state control over legal assembly”. One MP said the proposals would “make a dictator blush”.

Last week Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights found that plans to allow police to restrict “noisy” demonstrations were “not necessary in a democratic society” and should be dropped. They also found the bill increases “the risk of peaceful protesters being arrested or prosecuted for innocent mistakes”. New polling this week has shown that two-thirds of the British public are concerned by plans to “criminalise protest”.

It is little surprise that the home secretary, Priti Patel – who in February said “I don’t support protest” and described the Black Lives Matter protests as “dreadful” – has so far refused to back down. But the significant opposition to these measures means we have a real chance of changing them. Please add your name to the petition ahead of the hand-in on Monday morning.

Add your name to the petition

Thank you,
Jonathan Stevenson
Campaigner at Global Justice Now

READ MORE

Curbs on protests in policing bill breach human rights laws, MPs and peers say, Guardian, 22 June 2021
Two thirds of public concerned by plans to ‘criminalise protest’, polling shows, Independent, 29 June 2021
Kill the Bill: ‘This law seems like a direct attack on us’, BBC, 16 April 2021
Even Theresa May is worried about Priti Patel’s controversial new policing bill, 16 March 2021

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