A small protest took place on Saturday (20 March 2021) outside the office of Andrew Jones MP, and it was by the Green Party.
The protest was peaceful, and about raising awareness of the bill that gives the police heavy powers to police protests and the courts powers to hand out much stiffer fines and sentences – The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Sarah Gibbs and Shan Oakes from the local Green Party are both horrified by the proposed changes and calling for people to research the bill for themselves.
The bill is being pitched by the Conservative Party as long overdue tweaks to a bill that hasn’t been amended for many years – the reality is that it is a draconian attack on the ability to protest.
The bill is 307 pages long and encompasses many changes.
Andrew Jones, speaking to the area committee, has said that he is amazed that anyone would vote against the bill and that it didn’t stop the right to protest. He further added that there were also other measures that if it had been voted-down would have also been lost.
The Green Party talking about the Bill.
Andrew Jones MP talking to the North Yorkshire County Council Area Committee last week.
If this was law in the 80s then Arthur Scargill would have been quickly locked up.
The Poll Tax protests in the 90s could not have happened.
You may not agree with environmental protests, but this law would allow for those people to be locked up.
Protests can be outlawed merely for “causing annoyance”. If you can’t even cause annoyance you can’t really protest. Were the big Brexit protests in 2019 annoying or loud? The sentence is up to 10 years. Would fewer people have turned up facing that risk? Or would some people go “in for a penny in for a pound”?
We must remember that without protest I and women all over the world would not have a right to vote. If I feel strongly about something I will protest and take the consequences!
I would be very willing to join any protest against this appalling Bill that attacks basic rights to protest.
This feels like an extension to the “unlawful assembly” laws introduced to kill rave culture, without a care to the collateral consequences.
As a country we are rather poor at protesting government actions, yet are happy to moan about the nanny state.