Marchers oppose British plan for protests
LONDON — Hundreds of people marched through central London and other cities across England and Wales on Saturday to protest the British government’s plan to hand the police new powers to tackle demonstrations.
Protesters walked past Buckingham Palace towards Parliament Square, just outside the Houses of Parliament. A ring of officers positioned themselves around the statue of wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the square; it was defaced during anti-racism protests last year.
Protesters, including many who carried anti-sexism placards and chanted “Women scared everywhere, police and government do not care!” passed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office at 10 Downing Street.
London’s Metropolitan Police said the majority of people “have tried to adhere to social distancing,” but that a “small minority” had blocked the road at Parliament Square.
“Officers are on scene engaging and encouraging them to move so we can reopen the roads,” it said.
The protests were taking place over the Easter holiday weekend, including in the Welsh capital of Cardiff and in the northern England cities of Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.
The demonstrators were upset at the Conservative government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which is currently going through parliament. Under the terms of the bill, which covers England and
Wales, police will be able to ban or shut down protests.
A recent protest against the new legislation in Bristol in southwest England descended into widespread violence that saw police officers injured, a police station damaged and police vehicles torched.
Separately, 27 police officers were injured during riots in Northern Ireland on Friday evening and eight people were arrested. The reasons behind the unrest were unclear.
The Police Service of Northern Ireland said 15 officers were injured in Belfast after being targeted by a crowd of mainly young people, throwing stones, fireworks, flares, manhole covers and petrol bombs. It said 12 more police were injured in Londonderry after young adults threw stones, bottles, petrol bombs and fireworks.
Political leaders called for calm. Northern Ireland’s first minister, Arlene Foster, urged young people “not to get drawn into disorder.”
RACISM REPORT DEFENDED
Meanwhile, the commission behind a report that concluded that Britain doesn’t have a systemic problem with racism has defended itself against critics, some of whom have argued that it downplayed the country’s historic role in slavery.
In a response late Friday, the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities said disagreement with the government-backed review had “tipped into misrepresentation,” and it took particular umbrage at accusations that it put a positive spin on slavery.
“This misrepresentation risks undermining the purpose of the report — understanding and addressing the causes of inequality in the U.K. — and any of the positive work that results from it,” the commission said.
The Conservative government launched the commission’s inquiry into racial disparities in the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter movement. The panel of experts — 11 members from a broad cross-section of ethnic backgrounds — concluded that while “outright racism” exists in Britain, the country is not “institutionally racist” or “rigged” against minorities.
Citing strides to close gaps between ethnic groups in educational and economic achievement, the report, which was published Wednesday, said race was becoming “less important” as a factor in creating disparities that also are fueled by class and family backgrounds.
Many academics, lawmakers unions and anti-racism activists were skeptical of the findings in the 258-page report, with some claiming the commission ignored barriers to equality, while others said it downplayed the ongoing legacy of Britain’s colonial past as well as its role in slavery.