Been public protests here for the last couple of weeks over the UK Governments proposed Policing Bill.
At a time when the country has seen mass public protests and civil disturbances over the governing party's policy on both Brexit and Covid-19 they are now introducing the Policing Bill which changes the public's right and ability to protest things
The Bill will see the police given the power to decide if a protest can go ahead or not, if they decide it can go ahead then the police get to choose the start and end time. They also get to decide a noise level that they believe is suitable, and if that noise level is breached then arrests can be made, a fine of £2500 imposed and up to a maximum of 10 years in prison given. This is applicable all the way down to 1 person on their own protesting something
It will also become a crime to fail to follow restrictions the protesters "ought" to have known about, even if they have not received a direct order from an officer. The proposed law includes an offence of "intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance".
The Bill also gives the Home Secretary the power, without any vote in Parliament, to create new laws around what should and shouldn't be considered 'serious disruption' for a protest, which the police will then work to in order to impose conditions on protests
08 Apr 2021, 6:28 am
