UK police bill that could end peaceful protests ‘would make a dictator blush’
- Britain’s government criticised as policing bill passes in parliament
- Police could get new powers to curtail noisy, disruptive demonstrations
Boris Johnson’s government was accused of inching towards authoritarian rule after the UK parliament voted for a bill that could end peaceful protests, even a one-person demonstration deemed too noisy.
In the debate leading up to the vote, the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill was denounced by Labour MPs who drew on UK history to oppose the bill. It has also come under criticism from civil and human rights groups including Amnesty International. With the government presiding over an 80-seat majority, it easily passed on Tuesday.
“When the Suffragettes marched for the right to vote some of them broke the law to make their point just outside the House of Commons,” shadow justice minister David Lammy told the House of Commons, referring to the campaign for women’s voting rights.
“Does the secretary of state believe that those women who shouted noisily, should have been arrested too?” he said, turning to the Justice Minister Robert Buckland.
“The loose and lazy way this legislation is drafted would make a dictator blush,” said Gavin Robinson, an MP with Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist party. “Protests will be noisy, protests will disrupt and no matter how offensive we may find the issue at their heart, the right to protest should be protected.”
