Protesters to be landed with damages bill – Protesters who damage artwork, disrupt businesses or obstruct key infrastructure will have to pay the bill for making amends under plans to toughen up public order laws

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  1. >#Protesters to be landed with damages bill

    > Protesters who damage artwork, disrupt businesses or obstruct key infrastructure will have to pay the bill for making amends under plans to toughen up public order laws.
    They could also be forced to pay towards the policing costs of their protests, government sources have said.

    >Protesters do not have to pay for the damage they cause. They can face fines but the money does not go towards compensating for the damage or financial costs of their actions.

    >This month activists from the Just Stop Oil group glued themselves to paintings in galleries, including The Hay Wain by John Constable at The National Gallery. Another example cited by government sources was the financial cost incurred by newspapers after activists from Extinction Rebellion blocked printing presses in September 2020. The protest prevented the printing of more than 1 million newspapers, including copies of _The Times_.

    >Under the proposed changes they would be billed for their actions. Ministers hope the measures will deter activists from taking part in highly disruptive protests or stunts that have generated major public expense.

    >Priti Patel, the home secretary, plans to add the measures to the Public Order Bill next week. The bill is at the report stage in the Commons and is likely to progress regardless of who becomes the next Tory leader.

    >The government was forced to introduce the Public Order Bill in May’s Queen’s Speech to resurrect several previous measures that were removed from the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act earlier this year by the House of Lords

    >Among other measures, the bill includes a new offence of “locking on” for protesters who attach themselves to something so they cannot be removed, with a maximum sentence of up to 51 weeks in prison.

    >It also proposes extending stop and search powers, allowing police to carry out searches where there are no reasonable grounds for suspicion and imposing travel bans on individuals on days when protests are planned.

  2. Surprised this isn’t the case already.

    It’s a fair system – if you cause financial loss for others, then you should have to pay for it. If you stop a business from operating, you should have to pay for the lost revenue. You stop people from getting to work, you should have to pay for their lost wages

    Etc etc

    And just like any other event, if your protest requires additional policing, then you should have to pay for it.

  3. Only the UK would voluntarily debase the democracy so that only the elites can afford to protest.

    Not that they would, they are more than happy to fuck us over for their own short-term gain.

  4. Freedom, democracy is a very delicate concept and we need mature,wise leaders who have the skills, nous, patience to nurture,nourish and let it grow that shelters all regardless like a huge banyan tree shades all not butchers and chancers who hack away at their will and destroy decades worth of achievement in days.

  5. I totally agree with damages, but the rest of that is pure bullshit.

    You can protest without wrecking everything around you.

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