UK GOVERNMENT: STOP THE ASSAULT ON OUR FREEDOMS
- Amnesty society
- Nov 30, 2021
- 2 min read
Our government is in the process of passing a new 'Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill'.
However, the bill is effectively a crackdown of our rights of freedom of movement, expression and assembly. Such an enormous and unprecedented extension of policing powers would put too much power in the hands of the state, to effectively ban peaceful protests should they see fit. Recent uses of excessive force by the police highlight precisely why Parliament must not grant further powers.
Sign below to call on our Prime Minister to STOP THE ASSAULT ON OUR FREEDOMS.
This new bill is problematic for a number of reasons including:
The bill would entrench racism.
Research by the UK Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights- 85 % of Black people in the UK are not confident that they would be treated the same as a white person by the police.
Black people are more likely to be tasered, stopped and searched and to experience death in custody. Increasing policing powers without addressing racism will not address the entrenched racism and discrimination faced by racial and ethnic minorities across the country.
The bill does not address structural inequalities- the criminal justice system needs to be dismantled not re-enforced.
The bill seriously restricts the right to protest.
The right to protest is fundamental to a free and fair society.
The bill represents an enormous and unprecedented extension of policing powers, that would effectively give both police and government ministers the powers to ban, limit or impose restrictions on peaceful protest.
Possible arrest on the grounds of being ‘noisy’, or an ‘annoyance’.
The police already have powers to prevent public assemblies from causing serious harm. This Bill does something entirely different – it cracks down on explicitly nonviolent dissent.
This could lead to more violence. We have seen how police use unlawful force in response to a peaceful protest.
More information on issues within the bill:
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