Brainaddict
slight system overdrive
Can't see a thread on this. Not content with the Police, Crime etc Act, the government are now pushing for some quite extraordinarily repressive legislation, much of it in response to XR, Just Stop Oil and the HS2 protesters. It makes a wide array of direct action tactics illegal (like 'locking on' to anything in order to cause disruption), and introduces protest bans for people convicted but also for people not convicted - the police just apply for them to be banned. These unconvicted people could be made to wear tracking tags to ensure they don't go to protests.
Relatively little press recently but here's an older article: The government’s anti-protest bill is back. Here’s what you might not know about it - The Big Issue
Details https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/49143/documents/2655
Don't really know what to say about this stuff any more. One of the few conventional protests I went on in recent years was the Policing Bill one. It was mostly pretty far left people who the government has no desire to listen to. A greenpeace post I saw on IG about the POB had close to half the commenters expressing their approval, so the government know they have a big constituency for it. For all the years of 'liberal democracy' it seems many people think protest is only okay if it doesn't annoy anyone, thus demonstrating they know nothing about protest. I'm not really sure where it stops at this point. If they pass this I think they'll just carry on, passing new laws every year to contain whatever forms of protest arise to try and circumvent the law. At some point it might get some kickback if it is applied too harshly, but the police will no doubt use the law very selectively so not too many 'respectable' people are targetted.
Relatively little press recently but here's an older article: The government’s anti-protest bill is back. Here’s what you might not know about it - The Big Issue
Details https://bills.parliament.uk/publications/49143/documents/2655
Don't really know what to say about this stuff any more. One of the few conventional protests I went on in recent years was the Policing Bill one. It was mostly pretty far left people who the government has no desire to listen to. A greenpeace post I saw on IG about the POB had close to half the commenters expressing their approval, so the government know they have a big constituency for it. For all the years of 'liberal democracy' it seems many people think protest is only okay if it doesn't annoy anyone, thus demonstrating they know nothing about protest. I'm not really sure where it stops at this point. If they pass this I think they'll just carry on, passing new laws every year to contain whatever forms of protest arise to try and circumvent the law. At some point it might get some kickback if it is applied too harshly, but the police will no doubt use the law very selectively so not too many 'respectable' people are targetted.
