Amend the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

Rejected 18 signatures

What the petition asks

The right to protest peacefully is an important one for the civil liberties of UK citizens. The bill criminalises protests which cause "serious annoyance" with a punishment of up to 10 years in prison. This is a flagrant abuse of our rights and such language should be removed from the bill.

The police have the appropriate powers to punish wrongdoing, be it during a protest or elsewhere. Peaceful protest is fundamental to freedom of expression in a democracy such as ours, allowing citizens to have their voices heard in the space between elections.

Protest is designed to cause 'annoyance' by making those it is directed to feel pressure from the protesting group. Therefore, this bill can, in effect, criminalise any protest that the government or police would like stopped.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

We have published the following petitions, which you might like to sign:

Do not restrict our rights to peaceful protest: Do not restrict our rights to peaceful protest.

Remove single person protest clauses in Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill: Remove single person protest clauses in Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill

Do not pass the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill: Do not pass the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill

Timeline

15 Mar 2021	Petition opened for signatures
19 Mar 2021	Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 18

Status Rejected

Rejected 19 Mar 2021

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