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What is Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill and How it threatens Right to Protest

Introduction

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill is a proposed act of the UK parliament that will give more power the police and criminal justice system and sentencing legislation, etc in UK. The bill is sponsored by the Home office and the state secretary of state for the Home Department, Priti Patel.

The provisions of 300 pages long bill extend to England and Wales, although some provisions apply to Scotland and Northern Ireland. The bill has been introduced in response to the 2019 XR climate demonstrations in London.

Effects of Bill on Right to Protest

This bill proposes many controversial provisions about how to protest that threatens the Right to Protest of any UK citizen.

Police chiefs will be able to put more conditions on static protests. They will be able to:

· Impose a start & finish time of the protests, thus people will have no choice about when they will end protests.

· Set Noise Limits. British broadcaster and writer Kenan Malik warned the bill reduced the right to protest to “Whispering in the corner”.

· Apply these rules to a demonstration by just one person.

They could be fined up to € 2500, if they refused to follow police directions over how they should conduct their protest. So, this is how future protests are going to look like in UK.

Who’s happy with the Bill?

The Bill was welcomed by the Police Federation of England and Wales. Home office minister Victoria Atkins said “the act ‘updates’ the public order act and drew a distinction between peaceful protests and activities which inhibit the lives of people”. Ministers and police have defended the bill saying they were needed to tackle demonstrations such as the ones by Extinction Rebellion (XR) in 2019, where mass occupation of roads & bridges in London and made the police system completely paralyzed.

Women Rights Group Views on the Bill

Rights of Women, a campaign group says the bill fails to introduce long- called- for measures that could reduce violence against women’s & girls. However, the government says that other parts of the legislation toughen sentencing for serious violent and sexual offences and introduce new police bail rules for suspects under investigation.

What else does the legislation propose?

· Changing sentencing rules so that serious criminals spend more time in jail before they can be conditionally released

· Judges will be allowed to consider jailing child murderers for their entire lives

· Maximum sentences for low-level assaults against emergency service workers doubled to two years

· On terrorism, the bill creates powers to more closely monitor offenders released from prison

· Community sentences for less serious crime to address underlying problems in offenders' lives

· Changes to sexual offences law to tackle abusive adults in positions of trust, such as sports coaches and religious figures

#KillTheBill Protests Against The Bill

Protests against the Police and Crime Bill were held across UK. Kill the Bill demonstrations took place in London, Birmingham, Liverpool and Bristol among other place where protests against the bill were held.

Several women’s addressed the crowd and shared personal experiences of abuse and being drugged. Protesters also carried Anti-Sexism placards and chanted "women scared everywhere, police and Government do not care" as they marched past Downing Street.

During lockdown period protests went online but as the restrictions eased. In Bristol, more than 1,000 people gathered for a peaceful protest, after demonstrations on 23 March and 26 March ended in clashes with police.

What are 2019 XR Climate Demonstrations?

In April 2019, Extinction Rebellion held a large demonstration in London. Over the course of 11 days, some of the city's busiest routes were brought to a standstill.

The action resulted in more than 1,100 arrests - most on suspicion of not following police instructions to move.

Some activists glued themselves to trains and to the entrance of the London Stock Exchange. Some marched on Heathrow Airport and others chained themselves up.

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