We Own The Streets - Campaign for Free Assembly

It's time we had freedom to publicly assemble in the UK. We need to respond to continued police repression and the Government's consultation paper 'Managing Protest around Parliament'. This consultation shows the Government's intention to extend current restrictions on protest around Parliament to the whole country. This means giving the police powers to censor the content of banners and placards, and the current laws asserting restrictions and prior notifications to marches being extended to all demonstrations.

The proposed powers and those already given to the police create a
climate of criminalisation: a vast confusion of laws are applied arbitrarily so people are arrested simply for standing in the wrong place at the wrong time or having the wrong face. This combines with a police culture that evades accountability even when people are killed, as shown by the Menezes case and others. There should be no complacency that the court system can be relied on to prevent abuse and injustice.

Whatever the issues that matter most to you, whether you are concerned about a safer school crossing, a new runway or ending a war, this proposal will affect you.

The government consultation, which ended on 17th January, needs a response not on paper but on our streets. The message is simple: we claim the freedom to assemble without prior notification or permission and this freedom is not open to negotiation.

We plan to hold a second day of action on Saturday 1st March proclaiming this freedom as the next step in establishing a new era when it will be impossible for our liberties to be consulted away.

The next meeting of the campaign will be on 16th February.