Interrupt
In my housing practice on behalf of tenants facing the threat of losing their homes, I spend several months each year solving the basic mistakes made by the magistrates. These may be as serious as an order that prohibits people from staying at home for a year-issued 5 or 10 minutes after the hearing. If you can get these orders before a qualified judge, you can usually solve the mess created by the magistrate and let people go home. But not always.
According to the revised police bill, anyone who “participates” in the protest may receive a serious disturbance prevention order. The damage must be “serious”, but the bill does not define the meaning of this term. It just says that the Ministry of the Interior will become clear “serious” at some point in the future.
In the most tolerant interpretation of the bill, if it exceeds the threshold, for example, if the passengers in the car are delayed for five minutes in the journey, then the damage is serious, for example, a lone extinction rebel member stands in front of the car. Work trip.
If this sounds like a very low threshold, then remember that it is not a politician, or a barrister like me, or even a judge, who decides what is “serious”. It will be Priti Patel.
As long as someone contributes fundamental Severely interrupted, then they may be affected by one of these commands. For example, if you think about the Sarah Everard protests earlier this year, you will find that they caused serious damage when the police attacked the crowd.
court
From the perspective of obtaining a serious interference prevention order, the prosecutor only needs to prove that you have posted to ten friends on Facebook that you understand and support the demonstration.
There is no doubt that the Duchess of Cambridge “contributed” to this protest when she presented flowers at the scene: by doing so, she was propagating the event that led to the protest.
Once a serious interference prevention order is issued, the person bound by it may be required or prohibited anythingFor example, they may need to leave home and live in another city for up to five years.
I am not joking when I say this: I have some housing clients that are subject to orders issued by the district court under similar statutory provisions.
A police officer will submit evidence to the court stating: “X individuals are widely suspected of committing crimes. Sadly, they have never been convicted or prosecuted for crimes. Can you please order that they are prohibited from entering London for a year.” The hearing is very good. Briefly, the magistrate agreed. Refusal to obey such orders may result in up to 51 weeks in prison.
demonstration
A new criminal offence is if Fix Enacted into law, Whenever a person is attached to “another person, object or land”, he will commit this behavior, which can seriously damage an organization or two or more people. No intention to cause damage is required, nor any actual damage.
The key behavior is to “attach” yourself. Let us take a hypothetical example. You are riding a bicycle in London with a pair of bicycle shoes with cleats to secure you to the bicycle. You see the Extinction Rebellion protesting and decide to join for a while.
A policeman saw you. He believes that in theory you might use a bicycle to cause interference. It doesn’t matter if you haven’t used a bicycle in this way, or if you did it accidentally. If your bicycle “can” cause serious damage, then you have committed a crime of up to 51 weeks in prison.
Yes, the police do not have to use these powers, arrest or transfer your case to the Royal Prosecutor’s Office for prosecution before anyone speaks it out. Most police officers think that the idea of imprisoning someone just because they were riding a bicycle and wearing bicycle shoes to participate in a demonstration is offensive.
However, when the effectiveness of the law requires a lot of police to use their common sense, the reality is that hundreds of police do not need it. Ask any black youth living in London whether the police generally use current stop and search powers in a fair, proportionate and reasonable manner.
prison
And, as I said, the magistrates who make judicial decisions after any such arrests are a small part of our society who truly believe that their only role in the system is to do whatever the frontline police require, no matter what How strange or unpleasant it looks.
There are many other offensive things about these changes—such as the extension of stops and searches, so that if there is a protest and people may cling to objects, the police can search anyone nearby. Until 24 hours ago, the police don’t need to. There is any “suspicion” about the person they intercepted.
After discussions on the bill in the House of Commons are almost exhausted, we should be offended by the way these amendments were proposed-this way is obviously intended to minimize the chances of debate among members of Congress.
Remember, these amendments are based on the existing issues of the bill, which has been widely adopted.
But perhaps the most important point is that protest has never been so necessary. The climate crisis alone poses a profound threat to our survival as a species. Young people are constantly being told that they must fight for any kind of future. Now they are told that even the mildest form of protest can lead to jail. This is obviously unfair.
If you hear about protests against the police bill, please join. Because if this legislation is passed, our common freedom to legally protest in the UK will be almost worthless.
This author
David Renton is a barrister and author of New authoritarians: right-wing convergence, Published by Pluto Press, London, 2019.
