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STRAW U-TURN ON DEMO BAN
Promise to review Parliament’s exclusion zone for protests
CAMPAIGNERS fighting “draconian” measures banning protests within one kilometre of Parliament Square are claiming victory after the government announced plans to repeal the legislation.
Restrictions on protests outside the Houses of Parliament will be reviewed, Justice Secretary Jack Straw has said.
Yesterday (Thursday) Mr Straw told MPs the government would strive to find “a better way both to uphold the right to protest and manage individual protests appropriately”.
In 2005 the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act criminalised spontaneous demonstration within a one-kilometre “exclusion zone” of the Commons.
Mark Thomas, the comedian who has for the past year led a series of “mass lone demonstrations” in an attempt to flood the system, said: “This is a significant victory for us and the campaign. It shows that people can put pressure on the policy-makers and win. Bad laws inherently have the seeds of their own destruction within them.
“The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act is essentially a ban on demonstrating.
“There is no point demonstrating in a place where the people you want to know about your protest cannot see you. That is why it is important to be outside Parliament.
“Terrorism arises when people feel that their dissenting voice has not been heard, thus the preservation of free speech and demonstration is essential to a peaceful democracy.”
Protesters Milan Rai and Maya Evans became the first to be convicted under the legislation in August.
Mr Rai served 10 days in prison for ringing a bell outside Downing Street without permission.
Ms Evans, whose sentence is pending, said: “This is testimony that protest matters and can make a difference.”
Within days of becoming PM Gordon Brown said the law, which has itself prompted many protests, needed changing. |
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