![]() The harrowing scenes of police officers using force against women at Clapham Common recently were avoidable and wrong. Silkie Carlo, the director of Big Brother Watch, said: “A country cannot be described as a democracy if people do not have the freedom to protest. Referring to the policing bill, which passed its second reading in the Commons this week despite opposition from more than 150 human rights charities, unions and faith communities, as well as Labour, Grant added: “Using short-term restrictions on protest to stifle dissent while they pass permanent ones is as absurd as it is authoritarian.” ![]() The government’s current quasi-ban on protest is completely unacceptable.” In a healthy democracy, protest is a critical way we can fight for what we believe in. Sam Grant, the head of policy and campaigns at Liberty, said: “We must all be able to stand up to power and have our voices heard. This is not acceptable and is arguably not lawful,” the letter said. “There is no legal certainty for the police as regards their duties and powers, and no legal certainty for protesters as regards their rights. It urged Patel to immediately “expressly exempt protests from restrictions on gatherings in all tier areas” and highlighted the current situation in which deeming the legality of a protest is the responsibility of the police on a case-by-case basis. The letter to Priti Patel was signed by several Conservative MPs including Steve Baker and Christopher Chope, along with the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, and a number of Labour MPs and peers including Diane Abbott and Shami Chakrabarti. Previous demonstrations have been broken up by police. Campaigners say the police should work to facilitate Covid-safe demonstrations. If people are not distancing, however, it may become illegal, according to the regulations. Last week a high court judge suggested that the human rights of expression and gathering might be considered reasonable excuses in some circumstances, and the Met accepted there was no blanket ban on protest. The right to protest must be balanced against the rights of others and the protection of public health.” Gathering for the purpose of a protest is not an exception under the Covid-19 regulations. ![]() It said previously: “Current government legislation makes gatherings in groups of more than two people unlawful unless exemptions apply. The Met tweeted that officers were “engaging with those gathering around Piccadilly and other areas of central London to protest, explaining that we remain in a public health crisis and urging people to disperse or go home.” The crowd marched through Hyde Park and through London from Marble Arch. Other protests were expected to take place elsewhere in the UK. There were minor clashes as people objected to some heavy-handed policing and officers were pelted with bottles they responded by raising their batons and leading many more demonstrators away in handcuffs to their vans.Īt about 7pm a hundred police officers wearing riot helmets and carrying shields arrived at Hyde Park and urged people to go home. The scenes back at Speaker’s Corner after 5pm became increasingly fractious as officers ordered crowds to leave and arrested more protesters amid chants of “freedom”. The protest on Saturday began peacefully, but at about 4pm officers began stepping in to separate crowds and continued to urge people to disperse, detaining some. This is unacceptable (and) will not be tolerated.” The Metropolitan police said 36 people were arrested at the demonstration, adding: “Sadly, a number of officers were injured by crowds throwing bottles and other missiles. It is widely accepted that transmission of coronavirus is far less likely outdoors. The specific exemption to coronavirus regulations in England allowing the right to protest was removed in November, but some legal experts have said it remains a “reasonable excuse” for leaving home. They said the right to protest was enshrined in human rights law, amid growing scrutiny of police tactics after officers forcibly dispersed demonstrators at a vigil for Sarah Everard last week. On Friday 62 MPs and peers wrote to the home secretary saying that allowing the police to criminalise people for protesting was “not acceptable and is arguably not lawful”, in a letter coordinated by Liberty and Big Brother Watch. As police surrounded him and detained a handful people as they ordered demonstrators to disperse, the crowd then marched out of the park and through London from Marble Arch.
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