Leaders from across the UK’s faith spectrum have come together to urge MPs to remove a clause from the Crime and Policing Bill that could shut down lawful, conscience-led protest.
The joint letter, coordinated by Quakers in Britain and signed by Catriona Wheeler, Moderator of the United Reformed Church General Assembly, Bishop Mike Royal, Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber, Lord Indarjit Singh and 15 other faith and belief leaders, warns that the Bill’s new “cumulative disruption” clause is too vague and too broad.
The clause requires police to consider previous and planned protests in the same area when deciding whether to impose conditions on a demonstration.
“It could mean that we are stopped from demonstrating because another protest previously took place in the same area, even if it was on a completely different issue,” signatories wrote.
The letter comes as the Bill returns to the House of Commons on 14 April following its Lords third reading on 25 March.
The Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Sikh, and Buddhist leaders say that despite their differences, they share a common commitment to love and justice.
Members of all their communities are led by conscience to protest peacefully on issues that matter to them, they said.
And they point out that peaceful protest has often involved cumulative action. Campaigns that changed the world from the suffragettes to communities standing up against fracking were built on repeated, sustained demonstration.
Their concern is shared widely. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has called the clause too broadly drafted.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly recently told UK civil society organisations and MPs that she was seriously concerned about these repressive new laws and the clause on cumulative disruption in particular
This Bill is the third piece of anti-protest legislation in recent years.
“Peaceful protest motivated by faith, belief and love should be celebrated, not criminalised. We urge the government and MPs to drop the clause on cumulative disruption,” the letter says.
The full list of signatories can be found here.
Image: Asim Rehman/Unsplash.
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Faith leaders voice criticism of Public Order Bill – United Reformed Church
Faith and belief leaders urge MPs to approve changes to Policing Bill – United Reformed Church