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1,200 lodge applications for Parliament protests
A CAMPAIGN to undermine controversial legislation banning spontaneous demonstration within a kilometre of Parliament Square lodged 1,200 applications for individual protests on Thursday.
Comedian and political activist Mark Thomas has since September encouraged hundreds to apply for individual protests to expose flaws in the Serious Organised Crimes and Police Act (SOCPA), passed in 2005 to counter the alleged threat of terrorism.
The act makes demonstrating within a kilometre of Parliament illegal without prior permission and the ‘individual protests’ are designed to flood the system.
The campaign changes tack on April 21 when there will be protests in 20 different places in the ‘SOCPA zone’.
Mr Thomas said: “So far Maya Evans has been arrested and convicted of ringing a bell and reading out the names of British and Iraqi war dead. This was illegal without permission. I had to get permission to wear a red nose on Red Nose Day in Parliament Square, as I might have been arrested without permission.”
For more details on the protest visit: www.markthomasinfo.com
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