The Stop the War Coalition strongly condemns proposals to ban protest outside parliament, council buildings and MPs’ offices, and commits to campaigning energetically against them.
There is a long tradition in this country of freedom of protest and expression which must be protected. It is needed more than ever now when our politicians are refusing to reflect the demand of the overwhelming majority of the population for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza at a time when Israel is committing genocide.
While we do not call protests outside politicians’ homes, equating the right to protest with intimidation is completely spurious. The recent cycle of protests calling for a ceasefire have seen record numbers of people protest. Despite bizarre attempts to demonise these huge marches for peace and an end to mass killing as threatening, ‘hate marches’, they have been entirely peaceful with less arrests per person than at major music festivals.
Calls to limit the right to protest from centres of decision making are an attempt to insulate politicians from public opinion. As such, they are an attack on democracy not a defence of it.
