Law - new material (76)
01 October 2011
The new SOCPA, Christina Dey. Peace News, No 2538 (October) 2011 and SOCPAvistas, sleep on, Peace News, No 2359, (November) 2011. The first article outlines the fact that although the Serious Organised Crime and Policing Act (SOCPA, which contains provisions restricting protest near parliament) was repealed on 15 September, it effectively has a replacement in the forthcoming (and highly controversial) Police and Social Responsibility Bill. According to the article, the new Bill “appears to prohibit 24-hour protests in Parliament Square”. The article in the November issue contains slightly more detail. The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (PRSRA) does repeal sections of SOCPA that “required police authorisation for political protest and banned the use of loudspeakers in an area including Parliament Square”. The new act does not do away with repression altogether, however. It contains retrospective provisions that apply to “public assemblies” that began before the act came into force: this is intended to target long-term, tent-based protests in Parliament Square. Part 3 of PRSRA applies specifically to the grassy island at the centre of the square and bans the use of amplified equipment, as well as the erection of a tent or structure on the central island that is “adapted...for the purpose of facilitating sleeping or staying...for any period”. The police are able to seize any equipment that appears to be in breach of these provisions, with a maximum penalty for the offender of £5,000. The article notes, rather optimistically, that permanent protests in the square will be able to continue as long as “participants are willing to forgo any structure facilitating them staying in the square or any sleeping equipment”. Peace News website: http://peacenews.info/
The state gets heavy – part 1, Tom Holness. The Chartist, September/October 2011. An article by one of 145 people arrested at a sit-in inside luxury food shop Fortnum & Mason on 26 March 2011, during protests against the government’s austerity measures. The author notes the political nature of the cases, the majority of which are based on accusations that anyone in the shop holding leaflets or making speeches was part of the organisation of the protest. A number of those whose cases have since been dropped have received threats from the Crown Prosecution Service that, should they be arrested again, their cases will be re-opened and the attempt to prosecute will begin again. Further comparisons are drawn with the nature of the sentencing in cases related to the recent riots. The Chartist website: http://www.chartist.org.uk/