Public Order Bill poses new threat to protest rights
The government has further strengthened its Public Order Bill as it passes into the Lords, offering the police powers to shut protests down pre-emptively.
Under the new amendments the police will not need to wait for disruption before shutting down a protest on the grounds that it might cause disruption, potentially criminalising peaceful protest.
They will also be able to consider the impact of a series of protests, allowing them to shut down a non-disruptive protest because it is seen as part of a series.
These last-minute amendments set further dangerous precedents in a bill which already posed a serious threat to our human rights to freedom to assemble and expression.
The Public Order Bill is one of several actions by the UK government to undermine democracy and human rights over the past few years.
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These amendments further undermine the ability of people of faith to follow their consciences.
- Paul Parker
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These have been criticised by international experts including Human Rights Watch and the UN special rapporteurs on the relevant human rights.
The late amendments follow a similar pattern to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill (now Act), where the government added last-minute amendments at a late stage, and Peers voted to remove them from the bill.
Many Peers not only thought the measures themselves were draconian but highlighted the undemocratic nature of adding them to the bill at the last minute when the bill had already been through the majority of its parliamentary scrutiny.
Those amendments later reappeared as the Public Order Bill.
Paul Parker, recording clerk of Quakers in Britain, said: “Quakers believe that God is in everyone, and we are led by our faith to protest when we see injustice in the world.
“These amendments further undermine the ability of people of faith to follow their consciences. The government must tackle the causes of current crises, not punish those who campaign peacefully for positive change."
Quakers in Britain will continue working with other civil society groups to oppose these measures.
The Public Order Bill already contained unacceptable restrictions on the right to protest in England and Wales including:
- creating new offences of locking on and being equipped to lock on
- expanding stop and search powers, including without suspicion
- creating Serious Disruption Prevention Orders or 'protest banning orders