I’m not a racist, but…

Sadly we know what usually follows that statement. 

So when a government spokesperson this weekend said, “The right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy, but..” - you can guess that the statement that followed suggested they really don’t value the right to protest.

Here’s that Government statement in full -

“The right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy, but the Government will not tolerate a minority impacting the rights of others to go about their business without unnecessary disruption.”

We can’t help but see the irony here. We have a Government with unbridled power, elected by a minority of voters, that is seeking to stop minorities from exercising whatever power they have through the right to protest.

But, the keywords here are “unnecessary disruption” and that is the problem that lies at the heart of the Government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The Government is trying to define “unnecessary disruption” as “noisy” or “annoying”. Literally, every successful protest in history will have been noisy or annoying to someone. That’s kind of the point!

The all-male Government just over a hundred years ago definitely found the Suffragette movement both noisy and annoying. A hundred years before that, the Government definitely felt that the anti-slavery protests were noisy and annoying.

More recently, several governments found gay rights protests noisy and annoying. The Conservatives in the 1990s found anti-poll tax protests noisy and annoying. The Labour Government in the early 2000s found anti-Iraq War protests were noisy and annoying.

If a protest isn’t noisy and annoying to someone, then it probably isn’t a protest, and if it is, it isn’t going to be a very effective one.

One of the greatest things about the country that we live in, is that we can all speak out when things are going wrong. Nothing is more quintessentially British than questioning power. 

This is the first Government in our history that’s tried to restrict that

We can’t let them get away with this. 

Peaceful protests are a wonderful part of democracy that have changed the world for the better, in country after country. 

When the Chinese Government sought to restrict the rights of those in Hong Kong to protest, the Conservative Foreign Secretary said this -

“The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to Hong Kong’s way of life.”

Notice, no ifs and no buts there.

The right to peaceful protest should be fundamental to every country’s way of life and it’s shocking to think that might not apply to the UK.

It’s clear that this Conservative Government doesn’t enjoy scrutiny, accountability or criticism. Not many governments do.

But very few governments, at least in democracies, try to shut this down in the way our government is trying to do.

We must defend the right to protest. We must stand up for our rights and our ability to speak out against those in power.

If you agree, please sign our petition opposing these attacks on the right to protest today.