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Campaign for Free Assembly Next Public Meeting Saturday 12th April

Campaign for Free Assembly | 11.04.2008 07:29 | SOCPA | Repression

Saturday 12th April, 2-4pm. London School of Economics, Connaught House, room H102 (Holborn).

It’s time we had freedom to publicly assemble in the UK. The Campaign for Free Assembly is a group of individuals campaigning against the existing legislation restricting our freedom to assemble and the continued police repression of protest.

photograph by D. Viesnik
photograph by D. Viesnik


Jack Straw announced plans to replace SOCPA sections 132-138, which ban spontaneous demonstrations around Parliament, and make it a criminal offence to demonstrate without police permission - to get maximum positive PR from the ever-compliant press. Straw only announced the repeal now, while the need for new laws was hidden in the small print:

"In moving to repeal sections 132-138 of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act, the Government nonetheless takes seriously the need to ensure that the operation of Parliament is safeguarded. For many years this principle has been given expression in sessional orders which provided the Metropolitan Police with clarity on the House’s expectations on the Commissioner. [...] The Government believes that Parliament itself is well placed to contribute to proper consideration of what needs to be secured in order to ensure that Members are able freely and without hindrance to discharge their roles and responsibilities. [...] The Government therefore invites the views of Parliament on whether additional provision is needed for the purpose of keeping passages leading to the House free and open while the House is sitting, or to ensure that, for example, excessive noise is not used to disrupt the workings of Parliament."

 http://www.justice.gov.uk/docs/constitutional-renewal-white-paper.pdf

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 injustice. The ability to exercise effective protest is crucial in order to defend ourselves and others from the abuses of those in power. Whatever the issues that matter most to you, whether you are concerned about a safer school crossing, a new runway or ending a war, these laws affect you.

The government proposals need 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.

The Campaign for Free Assembly will be holding a Day of Action on the first Saturday of every month in order to campaign against, not only the restrictions within the 1km designated area under SOCPA, but also all the other legislations and measures - as in the case of ‘dispersal zones’ imposed by the police - constantly being applied to suppress free assembly and protest.

Next Day of Action for Free Assembly: Saturday 3rd May. We will gather at 1pm at the ‘Charles I Island’, the roundabout on the South side of Trafalgar Square (fyi: this place is just on the border with the SOCPA exclusion zone).

Campaign for Free Assembly
- e-mail: freeassembly@riseup.net
- Homepage: http://freedomofassembly.blogspot.com/