HSG statement on Kill the Bill protests

Posted: April 29, 2021

Since 3rd April had been started in London and in the UK a campaign called Kill the Bill against the Government’s “Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill”, which criminalises protests and thereby attempts to undermine people’s ability to fight for their rights and needs against those who control our lives and society.

The Bill contains enhanced police powers to deal with public order and wider offences and increased sentences for breaching conditions imposed on assemblies and processions by the police. These proposals have significant implications for the right to protest, and aspect of the rights to free speech and free assembly.

A clause called “Serious Violence Reduction Orders (SVROs) gives police the legal right to stop and search anyone, legally, without having any reason for suspicion.

If the bill is passed, the racial bias would be excusable by the law and discrimination that people may face, especially against ethnic minorities and black people.

The heavy-handed police response to a vigil in memory of Sarah Everard and the protest in Bristol against the new Police and Crime Bill have again drawn attention to the role of the police in society as it exists today, once again Kill the Bill demonstrations have seen police violence, most notably in Bristol police officers attacked protesters with dogs, shields and batons and in London, which saw a mass arrest of over 100 protesters.*

All over the globe, the pandemic has sharpened class divisions. In societies divided against themselves, the fight against the deadly virus has also become an opportunity for states to introduce and test out new measures aimed at curtailing certain freedoms previously held dear.

Haringey Solidarity Group supports this campaign Kill the Bill# and all struggles everywhere that seek to bring about more equality, autonomy, self-determination, and freedom for all people, we want to build a better world that liberates all.

“We must kill this bill. We must take the streets. We demand the rights to organise together. We demand the right to be out at night. We are here, we are together, and we are not afraid.”

In solidarity

A few members of the Haringey Solidarity Group

* Please Support Fundraiser: For Bristol Legal Support in the Streets and the Courts: www.gofundme.com/killthebill-bristol-legal-support-in-the-streets

Category: Features