The UK’s faith communities – ‘don’t silence peaceful protest’

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.

Quakers in Britain coordinated the joint letter. Signatories include Bishop Mike Royal, Rabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber, Indarjit Singh and 16 other faith and belief leaders. The letter 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. As the letter states:

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.

The letter comes as the Bill returns to the House of Commons on 14 April. This follows its third reading in the Lords 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 faith communities follow their 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, built up through repeated, sustained demonstration.

Their concern resonates 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 met UK civil society organisations and MPs. And she expressed serious concern 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. The faith leaders’ letter says:

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.

Featured image via the Canary