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PRESS RELEASE A GROWING COALITION OF VOICES DEMONSTRATE AGAINST GOVERNMENT PLANS TO STOP THE RIGHT TO PROTEST AROUND PARLIAMENT Demonstration, Monday 7 February, 2-8pm, Parliament Sq: A large coalition of campaigners against the Serious Organised Crime and Police Bill, that would end the right to protest in a zone 1km around Parliament Square, will be holding a protest opposite Parliament as MPs debate the legislation in the House of Commons. (1: See full list below) Protest will include speeches from the different constituencies that would be affected by the ban, the reading of names of Iraqi and British people who have lost their lives as a result of the US-UK occupation, statements from soldiers refusing to return to Iraq, poetry reading and music. Campaigners calling this protest include a large range of organisationgs and prominent individuals such as Military Families against War, Tahrir Swift, Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, Vanessa & Corin Redgrave, the Green Party, Trisha Goddard: daytime TVhost Campaign Against Criminalising Communities. Many other organistions and well known individuals are supporting the opposition to this Bill. John McDonnell and other MPs are also supporting the protest, and there is expected to be significant dissent within the Commons during the debate as a number of MPs have expressed their opposition to this part of the Bill. (2) The measure that would end the right to protest has been included in the Bill primarily to evict Brian Haw from Parliament Square where he has been since June 2001 in protest at the government’s policy towards Afghanistan and then Iraq. Also under threat is the two-year old anti-war Community Speakout of the Global Women’s Strike. However, the legislation will be much broader in its impact, and could stop all protest in a very large area (3). The campaigners point to the Human Rights Act, which guarantees the freedom of speech and association, which the Government will be overruling in order to pass this legislation. In October 2002, Mr Haw won a High Court victory when the judged ruled that Mr Haw was exercising his right to freedom of speech in Parliament Square and the pavement obstruction was not 'unreasonable'. Despite there already being legislation in place to stop protestors hindering the workings of Parliament, the new law would allow for peaceful protestors to be moved on merely for ‘spoiling the visual aspect’ or the ‘enjoyment of members of the public’. One police constable would be able to say how big a protest can be, what can happen within it and if, indeed, a protest can occur at all. If protestors, however peaceful, do not comply immediately they can be jailed for a year. Kay Chapman of the Global Women’s Strike said, “For over 350 years, people have exercised their right to speak out in Parliament Square but the Government is so embarrassed by the ongoing public hostility to their warmongering and the massive devastation they have caused that they are prepared to clamp down on any dissenting voices. The exclusion zone for protestors anywhere near Parliament would go as far as Trafalgar Square, Waterloo Station or Buckingham Palace. Given the government’s dismantling of fundamental rights – detaining people indefinitely without charge, the power to hold suspects incommunicado and proposing house arrest for any one of us – it is urgent to act now, before we wake up in a police State, compliments of Parliament.” Contacts: For a briefing on the Bill and an up-dated list of speakers and supporters see www.globalwomenstrike.net, 020 7482 2496, womenstrike8m@server101.com or Brian Haw’s support website: www.parliament-square.org.uk, info@parliament-square.org.uk Notes
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