Following the arrests made before and during the coronation last week, Chris Topping, Director & Actions Against the Police Team Leader, asks the question; is this the end of the right to protest?
It feels like we have known for a long time that this was coming and on Saturday 6th May 2023, on the most public of all stages, we may have witnessed its arrival…
The End Of Protest?
As the world watched the archaic traditions of the Coronation of King Charles III the Metropolitan Police were providing accommodation for over 60 people who wanted to express their views against the monarchy .
Those views may be ones with which we passionately disagree but whether the removal of protesters from the street is correct in what we like to describe as the birthplace of democracy is an interesting question.
The events surrounding the protests at the Coronation suggests, as many have been predicting, that the Police now have the powers to pre-emptively prevent effective protest on the streets.
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The Public Order Act 2023
Just days before the Coronation, on 2nd May 2023, the Public Order Act 2023 received Royal Assent and introduced new offences aimed at trying to limit the disruption caused by protests. This Act was quickly used, although in a very confused manner, by the officers of the Met.
In particular the offence of “going equipped to lock on” was used to arrest members of the organisation Republic who had tied placards together with luggage straps.
This new offence in conjunction with section 78 of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (which also created a new offence - intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance) has changed the landscape considerably.
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Confusion among law enforcement
There is currently a state of confusion and concern raging across law enforcement.
In the news on Sunday 7th we were told that there had been an apology from the Met for the way in which they had effected the arrests at the Coronation.
On Tuesday 9th we heard the Commissioner of the Met saying he supported the officers who had made the arrests with no mention of the apology.
Then on Wednesday 10th Dame Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said:
“That issue of how protests were policed is something that has raised concerns, particularly about the implementation of this very new act of parliament, the Public Order Act 2023, and particular section 2, which is about going equipped to lock on, which seems to have been at the core of why members of Republic were arrested around the use of luggage tags.”
“So there are real questions about that and we think this morning we’ll need to look at that and decide whether we want to have that short inquiry to learn some lessons and see what the implementation of that act actually means in practice to frontline police officers.”
Have we reached the End of Protest?
Some are suggesting that the famous Jarrow Crusade in the dark days of 1936 would now potentially be unlawful given the possibility that it would create a public nuisance.
We have seen many and varied protests over recent months which have caused varying degrees of disruption and considerable annoyance to politicians who do not take kindly to being called to account.
There is a balance to be struck but in these new laws dangers lurk as the state seeks to control the behaviour of citizens in a tighter manner than ever before.
We cannot allow the right of protest to disappear, rather we need to ensure that our rights as enshrined in Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights do not become an illusion. In the present environment that may be a struggle but one which we must have.
The right to protest lawfully and free from intimidation is at the heart of democracy. It is essential that this freedom is preserved and that where the state unlawfully interferes with that right, they are held to account.
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