Is our right to protest under threat?

We still have the right to peaceful protest. This is a human right incorporated in the Human Rights Act. Peaceful protest helped end feudalism and bring down communism. It is immensely powerful. In 2003 over a million people protested against the Iraq war.

Yet it is being increasingly restricted. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act of 2022 created the power to ban protests if they are too noisy and widened the area around Parliament where protests are restricted. The Public Order Act of 2023 allows the arrest of people planning a protest and Just Stop Oil activists were sentenced for between 2-5 years for doing that. The Bill also included a clause preventing demonstrations that were causing disruption that was “more than minor”. This clause was rejected by the House of Lords but was then introduced by the Home Secretary as a Statutory Instrument. Liberty took the Government to Court and won the case against the introduction of this clause. The Government appealed and Yvette Cooper when Home Secretary carried on with the appeal and lost again.

The Crime and Policing Bill currently going through Parliament would give the power to ban repeat protests and reduce jury trials. Juries have the power to find people not guilty even if they have broken the law. Nobody can ask juries why they decided a case in the way they have done. If we lose the right to jury trials we lose the right of juries to decide a case by conscience.

There are currently 1,200 injunctions in place stopping people protesting at locations in our country.

All politicians say they support the right to protest. During the Olympics in China the Government said that anyone could apply for the right to protest at the Games but everyone who applied for a permit was arrested.

Both the Conservative and Reform parties want to abolish the Human Rights Act.

Ahmed Afana is a local Palestinian activist and teacher and spoke next.

He pointed out that although invited the Police and the political parties were not represented at this Debate when they needed to be here to defend their actions.

Protestors become frustrated when there is no communication with the political elite who do what they want when they are in power regardless of their manifestos and promises. At the time of the Iraq war over a million people marched but this had no effect and Tony Blair is now a Member of Trump’s Board of Peace.

The police presence has felt heavy in the Palestinian protests here in Woking. The Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, called the national marches for Palestine hate marches.

The Government is supposed to represent us. People are becoming disillusioned about the effect of protesting.

Questions and Comments

Do the manifestos address the right to protest?

No. People are really concerned about the environment but this legislation is not seen as an issue by most people.

Should Palestine Action be proscribed?

Palestine action adopted the actions they did as there seemed no other way of getting the government to listen. Some of the investments in the Surrey and Woking pension schemes is invested in Israel but the local councils have ignored appeals to withdraw it so Ahmed concludes his money is going to finance the killing in Gaza and there is nothing he can do about it. The BBC didn’t report on the PA young people on remand on hunger strike for over a year.

The Labour Lord leading the bill through was asked if this legislation would not make the Suffragettes illegal? The answer was that it was only because they didn’t have the vote that they were compelled to do these actions yet we have the vote and are still ignored. Protests are still legal but to get noticed groups have to take illegal action.

15 people from a Take Back Power training session at Westminster Quaker meeting were arrested this week.

The average age of people arrested at Palestine Action protests was 65.

Face Coverings on marches

These will be illegal if the legislation goes through, even Covid masks will not be permitted.

Jury Trials. Are these being restricted because of cost considerations?

Are referendums the solution?

No. The referendum on leaving the EU showed how the result can be manipulated by lies and money. Proportional representation in elections is a better answer and applying the law equally to all.

Should we make voting mandatory?

If people really felt that voting makes a difference then more people will vote.

Why are teenagers not engaged?

Young people do not understand how the political system works. Schools and colleges do not discuss this adequately. Yet it can be done as shown by Mandani in New York. University protests over Gaza got closed down.

The Fear factor

One person was called in at work for going to the demonstrations at Faslane.

Drones are being used to monitor demonstrations.

At one demonstration the police confined the marchers but a group was allowed in and smashed windows and allowed out again while everyone else was kept in the cordon. The media then blamed the demonstrators not the few people who did the action.

How can people contact politicians?

People do not see the human side of politicians. Go to the MP’s surgeries. Write to them. Nagging is a very useful tool! This can have an effect.

What can we do?

Write to your MP about the legal changes going through in the Crime and Policing Bill.

Join a grass roots movement for change.