Our democracy was earned by protests

THE very purpose of protest is to raise awareness of an injustice and to make our voices heard when asking nicely, writing letters and signing petitions has failed.

This Government is essentially proposing to allow protest only if no one notices, in essence removing our right to effective protest all together.

Last year Laura Farris joined those in Victoria Park to support the Black Lives Matters protests, yet now those attending these very protests would be threatened with 10 years in jail if deemed too “annoying” or too

“noisy”.

Who gets to decide what is too “annoying” or too “noisy”?

The thought that being “annoying” could land you 10 years in jail beggars belief.

Our democracy was earned by the protests of those who have gone before us.

The right for women to vote was won through protest.

Gay rights were won through protest, civil rights were won through protest.

The right to paid holidays from work and the right to a minimum wage were all won through protest.

This legislation would allow our Government to have locked up all the suffragettes, to lock up Martin Luther King and Greta Thunberg.

Would they also now lock up our school strikers and those students who protested over their A-level grades last year?

This bill effectively silences everyone, from all sides of the political spectrum, including all those fighting for a better world.

A society in which people can not be heard because the law stifles protest is one in which frustration and fury will build, to the detriment of us all. CLAIRE WILLSHER

Hermitage