#KillTheBill – Stop the Attacks on the Right to Assembly and Protest!

Doug Thorpe writes: The Police have increasingly been using COVID rules to suppress protests by climate and housing activists, NHS campaigners and Black Lives Matters demonstrations. On Saturday 14 March they used them to forcibly stop a peaceful vigil by women against male violence, following the murder of Sarah Everard, allegedly by a serving police officer.

The Government is now bringing legislation that will last beyond the pandemic to add to police powers to control demonstrations. On Tuesday, the Home Office published the ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’. The Bill covers a wide range of areas, from sentencing to digital information, and discriminating against nomadic people. But it has a specific section (Part 3 Public Order) on the policing of protests. And the function of this section is simple: It aims to silence them.

Since Sunday there have been daily protests outside parliament and around the country calling for both increased action against violence against women, and to defend the right to protest.

The Bill started its second reading on Monday 15 March. Because of the public outrage about the police action against the women’s vigil, and these protests, the Labour Party has changed its position from abstaining on the Bill to opposing it. This is to be welcomed. However, the Tories have majority of 80 and there are few signs of any significant Tory opposition to the bill. In Monday’s debate only 2 Tory MPs expressed any concern about the Bill (surprisingly one of these was Theresa May!). So while the campaign is rightly lobbying MPs to oppose the Bill it seems unlikely that we can expect the Bill to be voted down in Parliament this week. It will proceed to the committee stage. Sign the petition against the Bill here.

The focus of opposition to the Bill must keep building demonstrations against it on the streets. Every effort must be made to stop the passage of the Bill. But, we will also need to prepare to defy law if it is passed, and build an ongoing campaign for its repeal (and the repeal of other restrictions on the rights of assembly and protest).

The proposed changes are primarily the Government’s response to protests over the last two years by Extinction Rebellion (XR), and more recently Black Lives Matter. The Bill’s Explanatory Notes say the measures are necessary because: “Recent changes in the tactics employed by certain protesters, for example gluing themselves to buildings or vehicles, blocking bridges or otherwise obstructing access to buildings such as the Palace of Westminster and newspaper printing works, have highlighted some gaps in current legislation”.

In fact, the bill goes far beyond the issues identified above and strikes at the heart of the right to protest itself. The Government is attempting to use the period of lockdown against the pandemic to strengthen its powers to clamp down on the protests that it realises will erupt once the COVID restrictions are lifted and the effects of its disastrous handling of the pandemic and the economy are exposed.

The Bill will lower the thresholds for the police to control marches, extend these powers to static assemblies, including lone protestors, and give the Home Secretary the power to define disruption. It seeks to do this by amending the Police powers under Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986.

Senior police officers can only issue a direction on a protest under the existing Public Order Act 1986 if they “reasonably believe”:

• the protest may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property or the serious disruption to the life of the community; or,

• the purpose of the protest is to intimidate others and compel them “not to do an act they have a right to do, or to do an act they have a right not to do.”

Before arresting somebody for failing to comply with a direction, the police must inform them they are in breach of the condition and give them an opportunity to follow it. Those convicted of not complying with a condition can be fined or imprisoned.

In November 2019 The High Court ruled that the police had exceeded their powers in the way that they had used Section 14 against XR’s Autumn Rebellion.

Clauses 54 to 56 and clause 60 of the new Bill would make significant changes to the police powers, contained in the Public Order Act 1986.

Clause 54 would amend section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 so police officers can issue conditions on protest marches which generate noise that may have “significant relevant impact on persons in the vicinity” or may result in “serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” in the vicinity.

Under clause 54 noise would have a “relevant impact” if it may result in the “intimidation or harassment” or “serious unease, alarm or distress” to bystanders (including a single bystander). This is a much lower test than the previous one of “serious public disorder, serious damage to property or the serious disruption to the life of the community”. And Clauses 55 and 60 would grant similar powers (for the first time) to deal with static protests or assemblies, including one-person protests!

Clause 56 would amend the offence associated with failure to comply with a police condition issued on a protest. It would remove the need to prove a defendant “knowingly” disobeyed a direction. The court would only need to find a defendant failed to be comply with a condition they “ought to have known” had been imposed to find them guilty.

Furthermore, the changes would give the Secretary of State regulatory powers to define the meaning of “serious disruption to the activities of an organisation” by order, without further primary legislation.

Other changes include expanding the “controlled area” around Parliament to and to add “obstructing of the passage of a vehicle into or out of the Parliamentary Estate” to the prohibited activities in the controlled area.

Clause 59 replaces the common law of public nuisance with an offence of “Intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance”. Such nuisance includes not only causing serious harm such as death, personal injury or disease, but also such things as causing annoyance or inconvenience!

These changes, if enacted, substantially remove the lawful right to any effective protest at all. If a demonstration, protest, or assembly (including a single-person action) cannot “impact” on persons or cause “disruption” (as defined by the Home Secretary) to the activities of an organisation in the vicinity, it is not difficult to see that the police could prohibit or control any protest anywhere.

A full briefing on the changes in Part 3 can be found here.

Coalitions against the Bill are already being built between XR, BLM groups, campaigning organisations, Unions and others. See XR statement and Open Letter to the Home Secretary from 150 organisations.

We need to build a massive campaign against the Bill that unites all those who are prepared to take action to stop the bill and defend the right to protest and freedom of speech and assembly. Left Unity will be part of that campaign.

#KillTheBill

#ProtectOurRightToProtest

#PoliceCrackdownBill

#WeWontBeSilenced