OK, so this isn't necessarily the good news it may seem at first :-/
The gushing intro from home secretary Jacqui Smith(*1) on 'the importance on protest to democracy' might reassure many readers they need read no further, sadly this is not the case...
The gushing intro from home secretary Jacqui Smith(*1) on 'the importance on protest to democracy' might reassure many readers they need read no further, sadly this is not the case...
Here's a brief summary of what they say
1) We want to tighten powers on peaceful assembly NATIONWIDE!
2) Protesters are all thugs / scum who hate democracy
3) Damn, we forgot to ban marches first time round!
4) MPs need to get to work and hippies might get in the way
5) We are scared of the 'terrorists' too
6) We 'need to ensure that ALL groups have the proper opportunity to protest at the seat of the elected UK parliament', however...
7) Parliament square is for tourists - not plebs like you!
8) We have grounds to treat the 1km around it seperately from the rest of the country
9) Having to apply for prior permission to protest isn't prohibited by the ECHR
10) We might make an exemption for 'small' demonstrations, but then again there might be several simultaneous demos so they will have to be VERY small.
11) We might just make the law the same for everywhere, because... (see 1)
12) IF (and only if) you support the exclusion zone (and other parliament centric restrictions) please write and tell us where you would like to see protest restricted next
You can mail them at
ProtestaroundParliament@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk
Consultation is open for the next 10 weeks
You can download a PDF of the paper here:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2007-managing-protest
The link on their page will download the PDF without the correct file extension (and therefore need to be renamed after downloading, appending the missing '.pdf'
If you don't know how to do that you can download it from my website instead at the following address: http://www.technicalbloke.com/cons-2007-managing-protest.pdf
PDF is Crown Copyright - Used by kind permission of Liz Windsor, 1, The Palace, London.
Also, I have created a map showing the current exclusion zone and the 1Km boundary here: http://www.technicalbloke.com/socpa-exclusion-zone.jpg (sorry google maps, you'll have to sue me!)
PS: Anyone else notice they refer to it throughout as SOCAP?
[1] Jacqui Smith's frankly appaling voting record can be found here: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/jacqui_smith/redditch
1) We want to tighten powers on peaceful assembly NATIONWIDE!
2) Protesters are all thugs / scum who hate democracy
3) Damn, we forgot to ban marches first time round!
4) MPs need to get to work and hippies might get in the way
5) We are scared of the 'terrorists' too
6) We 'need to ensure that ALL groups have the proper opportunity to protest at the seat of the elected UK parliament', however...
7) Parliament square is for tourists - not plebs like you!
8) We have grounds to treat the 1km around it seperately from the rest of the country
9) Having to apply for prior permission to protest isn't prohibited by the ECHR
10) We might make an exemption for 'small' demonstrations, but then again there might be several simultaneous demos so they will have to be VERY small.
11) We might just make the law the same for everywhere, because... (see 1)
12) IF (and only if) you support the exclusion zone (and other parliament centric restrictions) please write and tell us where you would like to see protest restricted next
You can mail them at
ProtestaroundParliament@homeoffice.gsi.gov.uk Consultation is open for the next 10 weeks
You can download a PDF of the paper here:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/documents/cons-2007-managing-protest The link on their page will download the PDF without the correct file extension (and therefore need to be renamed after downloading, appending the missing '.pdf'
If you don't know how to do that you can download it from my website instead at the following address:
http://www.technicalbloke.com/cons-2007-managing-protest.pdf PDF is Crown Copyright - Used by kind permission of Liz Windsor, 1, The Palace, London.
Also, I have created a map showing the current exclusion zone and the 1Km boundary here:
http://www.technicalbloke.com/socpa-exclusion-zone.jpg (sorry google maps, you'll have to sue me!) PS: Anyone else notice they refer to it throughout as SOCAP?
[1] Jacqui Smith's frankly appaling voting record can be found here:
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/jacqui_smith/redditch
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