Hundreds of people joined in protest in Manchester city centre yesterday over the government’s new crime law.
The ‘Kill the Bill’ demonstration began with dozens of people walking down Market Street and Deansgate before stopping together in St Peter’s Square at 5pm last night (Tuesday 16th March).
A bill, titled the ‘Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’, has been passed by MPs in the House of Commons.
The bill enables ‘the police to take a more proactive approach in managing highly disruptive protests causing serious disruption to the public’.
This means police have more power in imposing conditions on static protests, including managing the times and noise levels.
Plus the ‘range of circumstances’ on which this can be imposed has been widened. This means the police can impose conditions on a single person protest.
The landmark government crime bill passed its second reading – the first chance MPs get to vote on a proposed law – with 359 ayes.
The vast majority of Conservative MPs speaking on the day of the debate backed it’s proposals and accused Labour of not caring for the victims of crime by opposing it.
Labour highlighted concerns over potential overreach on gatherings, following the Metropolitan police operation against the vigil on Saturday for Sarah Everard
Labour MP, Clive Efford condemned the bill for being part of what he called ‘a Tory-led coup without guns’.
The DUP MP Gavin Robinson said: “The loose and lazy way this legislation is drafted would make a dictator blush. Protests will be noisy, protests will disrupt and no matter how offensive we may find the issue at their heart, the right to protest should be protected.”
The bill also makes defacing statues and monuments punishable by up to 10 years in jail.
Many people have pointed out that it would be theoretically possible for someone to be more harshly punished for defacing a statue than for rape.
Kerry McCarthy, Bristol East MP, spoke on the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol last year: “We used that moment to bring the city together.
“This government is now doing the exact opposite. When the communities secretary writes an op ed for the Telegraph saying, ‘We will save Britain’s statues from the woke militants who want to censor our past,’ we know what that is about.
“It’s about stoking up social and cultural anxieties to win votes, seeking out not what we have in common, but what divides us, fanning the flames.
“And now, whether it’s Black Lives Matter or Reclaim These Streets or the school climate strikes, or if you just want to pay tribute to a woman by lighting a candle and holding a vigil, you are all now collateral in this government’s trumped-up war on woke.”
Video’s shared by TKE Media show the protestors gathered in St Peter’s Square chanted ‘Kill the Bill’ while some people made speeches.
Police officers were present but did not appear to take any enforcement action.
Responding to tonight’s protest, GMP said in a statement: “Police were made aware of a possible protest in Manchester city centre this afternoon (Tuesday 16 March).
“At around 5pm, a large number of people had begun to attend.
“Officers engaged with those present and the vast majority of those who had gathered dispersed without any further issue shortly after 6pm.”
