Permission to protest?

by: Rose Anderson

library image of protest in parliament square, london

Library image of anti-Iraq sanctions protest in 2001. The new legislation now makes these kind of events technically illegal, unless prior police permission is asked for and given..
PHOTO: Peace News ,

London: Before its pre-general election dissolution, one of the final acts of the British government has been to further restrict the freedom of individuals to engage in street protest.

On 7 April the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill was given Royal Assent. The Bill includes a clause regulating protest within a 1km vicinity of Parliament.

Demonstrators wishing to protest in Parliament Square will now have to give six days' notice to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, who will decide whether the protest can take place. The Commissioner now also has the power to place restrictions on demonstrations, including the limitation of participants. The penalties for violating these restrictions entail fines and up to a year in prison.

Some are seeing this new law as aimed at removing Brian Haw from his continuous post in Parliament Square. He has spent almost four years opposite the House of Parliament in an anti-war vigil, primarily focusing on the UK's foreign policy towards Iraq.

In response to the new legislation, Haw said, "Genocide, or crying out against it, which is the crime? Mr Blair is ushering in an increasingly Orwellian state. My concern is for the children suffering in Iraq as a result of British policy. That is why I have been here over 1400 days."

The Mayor of London has proposed a compromise to the peaceful protester; that a statue of Haw reside on the now-vacant plinth in Trafalgar Square, as a permanent tribute to the anti-war campaign. If the plan were to go ahead, the statue would be erected by 2011.

To learn about the SOS (Save Our Speech) campaign and Brian Haw, see http://www.parliament-square.org.uk
For more information on the the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, see:http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/pabills.htm

Source: Save Our Speech