‘Kill the Bill’ protesters’ day of action in city centre
‘KILL the Bill’ protesters are gathering in Newcastle city centre this weekend for a day of action against the Government’s controversial new crime bill.
Demonstrators will congregate at Grey’s Monument on Saturday to respond to plans to push ahead with new laws that would give police in England and Wales more power to impose conditions on non-violent protests, including those deemed too noisy or a nuisance.
The static rally, starting at 12noon, will show resistance before the House of Lords has its final vote on the bill on Monday.
The Chair of People’s Assembly North East, Tony Dowling, said that his organisation have been involved in planning Saturday’s demonstration because “the right to protest is at the heart of a democratic society”.
“The right to equal pay, for women’s rights and the eighthour day were all won through protest,” he said. “The new crime bill is a threat to all campaign groups, trade unions and others seeking to exercise their democratic right to legitimate protest.
“It also undermines the human right of ‘peaceful assembly and association’ as contained in Article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 11 of the UK Human Rights Act.”
He continued: “There will be many people with no idea this is happening, so we need to be on the streets to draw people’s attention. And even if it does go through, we will continue to fight.”
The demonstration on Saturday is expected to last around an hour, with a range of organisations and campaign groups in attendance. Speakers include North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, National President of the PCS Union Fran Heathcote, Northumbria University UCU’s Peter Hill and Stand Up to Racism North East. Singer/songwriter Joe Holtaway will also be keeping the crowd entertained with his music. If passed, the last-minute amendments to the Government’s Crime and Policing bill by Home Secretary Priti Patel would make the act of locking-on to cause disruption and “wilfully” obstructing highways an offence punishable by up to six months in jail.
Courts would get powers to impose “prevention orders” on protesters’ future behaviour, even if they’re not convicted of a crime, and police would get sweeping new powers to stop and search protesters, even without suspicion a crime was committed.
Priti Patel claimed the laws are to crack down on groups like Insulate Britain - but opponent s say the impact will be far-reaching. The Bill will also make it illegal to inflict “serious annoyance” on a person without reasonable excuse, with up to 10 years’ jail in theory if judges choose.
And it includes turning trespass from a civil into a criminal offence, allowing the police to arrest people who are Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) and confiscate their homes, if they stop in places that have not been designated for them.
Chris Riches, 20, who has been involved in numerous protests for climate and racial justice across the North East, said of the bill: “We are genuinely sleep-walking towards an authoritarian state and it’s scaring me that a large portion of the population have not woken up to this. This is not even a left/right issue, it’s an issue of our very democracy being torn down right in front of our eyes by those in power.
“There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind for the reason of this bill, and the new amendments: it’s because the protests are working.
“The climate movement, BLM, and Kill the Bill may not have achieved all of their goals yet but by doing noisy, disruptive protests, more and more people are waking up and that creates a dilemma for the government.”
“Government ministers want all protests to be A to B marches which are easy to ignore, because it makes their life easier.”
A spokesperson from the Home Office, said the new powers had been informed “by the experiences of policing in response to the deployment of lock-ons in protest. Use of this disruptive and dangerous tactic has risen in recent years - including on some of the UK’s busiest and most dangerous motorways”.
Protests are planned across the UK for the ‘Kill the Bill’ national day of action including in London, Nottingham and Liverpool.