Here are some selected quotes from an article of a few hours ago (25th June 2021) bearing the good-news headline: Supreme Court backs protesters and rules blocking roads can be ‘lawful’ way to demonstrate
You can read the full article HERE
- A ruling given on Friday morning said that protesters can have a “lawful excuse” defence against the statutory offence of obstructing a highway, even where they have used “deliberately physically obstructive conduct”.
- “There should be a certain degree of tolerance to disruption to ordinary life, including disruption of traffic, caused by the exercise of the right to freedom of expression or freedom of peaceful assembly,” the majority ruling added.
- Judges said that when interfering with the right to protest, factors must be considered including the extent to which demonstrators have broken the statute, their location, the duration of the protest, its interference with the rights of others and whether the action is over “very important issues”.
- “It is an important verdict, especially now, when the government is trying to crackdown even further on the right to protest. If the current proposals become statute, they will give even more powers to the police, while making it even harder for people to make their voices heard.”
- Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights said earlier this week that proposals to allow police to restrict protests on the basis of noise were “not necessary in a democratic society” and must be scrapped.
- This report first published by Steve Cook – ‘The Liberty Beacon‘
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