The right to freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are the essential building blocks of a vibrant and healthy democracy. In Britain, we have a long and proud history of citizens speaking truth to power and achieving democratic change through protesting on issues from equality, to climate change and the Poll Tax. 

On the rare occasions where there has been violence, the Police have the powers they need to take action. Our system has got the balance about right.

But the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill is the most dramatic shift in power we’ve seen in recent times. For the first time, the Police will have powers to ban a demonstration outright.

Those in power have often found protest inconvenient and annoying, but this is the first UK government to try to restrict our rights in this way. This must be resisted.

Three months ago over 250 organisations, including Unlock Democracy, signed an open letter to the Home Secretary and the Secretary of State for Justice expressing profound concern and alarm about the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

https://friendsoftheearth.uk/system-change/open-letter-home-secretary-and-secretary-state-justice

This concern has been echoed since by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, in a letter dated 25th May.  This drew attention to their belief that the Bill might fall short of numerous provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Supporters of the Bill may be tempted to dismiss these views as those of the usual suspects.

It will be harder for them to brush away the opinions of ex-police officers with long service: for instance those of Owen West, a recently retired (2019) Chief Superintendent in West Yorkshire Police. He specialised in public order and policing crowds and protests for over 20 years, commanded some of the largest police mobilisations for protest in northern England and exercised the use of water cannon and firearms (in crowd contexts) with the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

Mr West’s view is that this legislation will change the definition of protest and lead to more conflict between the police and the public.  This will be driven by greater political, public and media expectation that the police will use these new powers, including powers which, for the first time, allow the police to ban an assembly. 

He expects the Bill will add another layer of complexity around policing as disruption is something which businesses not directly targeted by a protest will be able to object to.  The police will need to juggle the views of more stakeholders (pro and anti protest) than before. Inevitably some are going to be disappointed with any police decision.

As an experienced police officer, he believes the best way to manage protests is to build a rapport with protesters.  In 2009, after the death of Ian Tomlinson who died after being struck by a police officer as he tried to make his way through the police cordons drawn up during the G20 demonstrations, protest liaison officers were established to do just that.

This is the lesson that the Government is forgetting.  The strength of the UK policing model relies on the consent of those being policed.  That consent is going to be withdrawn when dialogue is replaced with an outright ban because a protest is deemed too ‘noisy’ or ‘disruptive’. In turn, this could lead to the militarisation of the police with Robocops in full protective equipment and water cannon deployed to squash protest.  

Is this the Freedom Day our Prime Minister has been dreaming of?