New protest powers come into effect
'BYM also warned that the government is proposing to restrict protest even further in the Public Order Bill, which is currently going through parliament.'
Protestors should be aware that new protest restrictions have now come into place, Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) has warned.
Writing on the Quakers in Britain website, BYM said that while protest remains legal under the new measures, ‘police in England and Wales can now put restrictions on protests because they might be noisy, including one-person protests. Protesters can be sanctioned for breaching restrictions they “ought to have known” about’.
The new powers were enacted on 28 June under the controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill 2022 which Quakers have campaigned against.
According to BYM, fines and prison sentences for some protest-related offences have increased. The human rights group Liberty has detailed information on the new measures and advice on how to organise a protest.
BYM also warned that the government is proposing to restrict protest even further in the Public Order Bill, which is currently going through parliament. Proposals under the Public Order Bill include forcing through Serious Disruption Prevention Orders for potential protestors, and new criminal offences for ‘locking on’, and being equipped to do so. These carry a maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment (and unlimited fines).
Civil rights groups have slammed the proposals, saying that they are rehashed from those dropped from the PCSC bill when they were rejected by the House of Lords.
Grace Da Costa, public affairs and media manager at BYM, described the orders as ‘draconian and unworkable’. She also highlighted new polling by Liberty showing that ‘68% of the public think the government should focus on tackling the root causes of crime rather than expanding police powers’.
The Public Order Bill will also expand stop and search powers to allow police to seize articles related to locking on, and introduce new offences for interfering with key national infrastructure, such as airports, railways or major transport works like HS2. Greenpeace has launched a petition against the bill.
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