Cross-party group demonstrates for the right to protest outside office of Lewes MP Maria Caulfield

The protesters, which included Labour Party and EU unity Seahaven members, delivered personal letters calling for Maria Caulfield to stand up for the fundamental democratic right to take part in peaceful protest – which they say will be removed by government’s Police, Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill (the Policing Bill).

They held placards with the messages ‘Protest is not a crime’, ‘Protest won votes for women’, ‘Protest gives voice to the powerless’, and ‘Protest is what stands between democracy and dictatorship’.

The Bill and its amendments would give the police, acting under instruction from government, the power to stop any protest if they think it will cause “serious annoyance” to two or more people or an organisation.

It would also allow the police to arrest anyone they think may be planning to take part in such a protest. People charged under these laws could be jailed for up to 51 weeks.

Baroness Jenny Jones of the Green Party, who has been leading resistance to the Bill in the House of Lords, said: “These draconian laws, that will make effective protests illegal, should be seen as part of the attack on our democracy designed to keep a corrupt government in power and minimise opposition. Ironically, it could be the government’s attempt to bypass parliamentary scrutiny by MPs that enables the Lords to defeat these 18 pages of new amendments.”

The protesters called on all MPs and members of the House of Lords to stand up for our basic human rights and reject this extremely dangerous and anti-democratic Bill.

On January 17, the House of Lords voted to remove a number of amendments from the Bill, although many of these will now return to the House of Commons to be discussed at the next stage of the Bill’s progress through Parliament.

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