Stop the government's attack on the right to protest

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Hi John,
The government’s plans to criminalise protest are truly chilling.

Over the last year we have joined more than 250 organisations in mobilising against home secretary Priti Patel’s efforts to shut down protests that are deemed too ‘noisy’ or ‘annoying’, and make them punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Already more than 750,000 of us have taken a stand ([link removed]) against the measures in the policing bill, which the House of Lords will consider on Monday.

Yet last month the proposals actually got even worse.

After MPs had voted, the government added 15 pages of new amendments in the Lords that will give police multiple new ways to crack down on protests. These range from expanded powers to stop and search (already used disproportionately against Black people) to the power to ban protests in specific places deemed too disruptive by the government.

Most outrageously, they would introduce a ‘protest banning order’ allowing individuals to be prevented from attending or even publicising protests for up to two years, on the basis of mere suspicion. Even sharing information about a protest on the internet could become a crime!

This is meant to be a democracy, but some of these measures are what you would expect in an authoritarian regime.

On Monday the House of Lords has an opportunity to call out this brazen assault on our most basic freedom to stand up for what we believe in. Will you sign the petition now to defend the right to protest? We’ll deliver it to the Lords on Monday.
Sign the petition ([link removed])
Since these proposals were unveiled last year, more than 750,000 of us have joined the campaign against them. Tens of thousands have taken part in mobilisations against the bill across England and Wales. And it has provoked a chorus of criticism, including from some unlikely quarters.

One MP said the proposals would “make a dictator blush”. More than 700 legal scholars called the bill “draconian” and warned of “an alarming extension of state control over legal assembly”. Even a former chief constable said “we need to be very wary” about the new police powers in the bill.

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

The Government doesn’t have a majority in the House of Lords. And because they were introduced after MPs had voted on the bill, if the Lords vote down the new amendments, the government won’t be able to bring them back. So there’s a real prospect of defeating some or all of these proposals.

But we need to keep building public awareness and demonstrating support. Will you sign the petition ahead of the debate on Monday?
Add your name ([link removed])
There are further outrages in this bill – from criminalising the way of life of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities to harming access to the countryside. You can find out more in these briefings from our allies at Liberty ([link removed]) and Friends of the Earth ([link removed]) .

The right to protest is something that we have to defend and protect in every generation. Now is our time.

Thank you,
Jonathan Stevenson
Campaigner at Global Justice Now

PS. On Saturday there is a day of action ([link removed]) around the country called by the Kill the Bill campaign. We are also supporting a ‘Really Annoying Demo’ ([link removed]) outside the Lords on Monday evening, as they consider the bill.

Notes

1. Policing bill would make my grandmother Sylvia Pankhurst turn in her grave ([link removed]) , The Times, 11 January 2022.

2. Jailed for 51 weeks for protesting? Britain is becoming a police state by stealth ([link removed]) , Guardian, 1 December 2021.

3. Priti Patel has quietly been stuffing even more punitive anti-protest powers into the policing bill ([link removed]) , The i paper, 25 November 2021.

4. The UK is heading towards authoritarianism: just look at this attack on a minority ([link removed]) , Guardian, 12 January 2022.
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