EMAIL YVETTE COOPER

PROTECT THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

Tell the Home Secretary to strike out extreme anti-protest laws and protect people’s freedom of expression. Please make sure to personalise your message, if we all send in the same message, the government will count it as one response. Let the government know why this issue matters to you:

HMRC

Dear Home Secretary,

I am writing to you because I am deeply concerned about restrictions on the right to protest in the UK, and what this means for the state of our democracy.

The right to protest is a cornerstone of a flourishing democracy and the UK has a long, healthy tradition of civil disobedience and disruptive protest. From votes for women to the right to roam the countryside, many of the rights and freedoms we enjoy today are down to people protesting for them. But in recent years, successive governments have deliberately criminalised and shrunk space for peaceful protest in our democracy. Police powers to crack down on protest were expanded under the last government. And new research by Greenpeace has found that the Metropolitan Police has regularly arrested protesters when there is an extremely low chance of them ever being charged.

As Shadow Home Secretary, you spoke out about the expansion of police powers to restrict protest under the last government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (2022) and the Public Order Act (2023). It is therefore deeply disappointing that the Labour government is not only refusing to repeal these anti-protest measures, but is instead doubling down on the crackdown on protest rights. The Crime and Policing Bill will further expand police powers to criminalise peaceful protest - handing police the power to arrest people wearing a face covering at a protest and, more worryingly, compelling protesters that are on limited visas to leave the country if they get a police caution. These are both measures that were first proposed by the Conservative government as part of its far-reaching crackdown on peaceful protest.

Democracy cannot exist without the right to dissent. With democracy under threat across the world, it is more important than ever that we protect the right to protest. Please remove the anti-protest clauses from the Crime and Policing Bill, and repeal the anti-protest measures that you once stood against.

Yours sincerely,

{user_data~first_name} {user_data~last_name}

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YVETTE COOPER: RESTORE THE RIGHT TO PROTEST

A year ago activists were given the UK’s longest ever sentences for a peaceful protest. This was possible, because the last government passed a raft of extreme anti-protest laws. These laws were designed to strip away people’s right to speak out on the issues they care about.

Now the Labour government is ramping up the attack. Direct action group Palestine Action have been banned and new legislation is going through parliament that could give police powers to arrest protesters for wearing a face covering - even for health and religious reasons. We need to stop this.

Protest has won us so many of the freedoms we enjoy today, like the weekend, women's right to vote and a ban on fracking. These new laws don’t just affect climate activists, this affects anyone who wants to have their voice heard on anything they care about.

Tell Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to stop this attack on our fundamental rights and restore the right to protest.