Public Order Bill: Suella Braverman quietly tries to give herself fresh anti-protest powers. Last-minute amendment to Public Order Bill would let home secretary slap injunctions on people ‘likely’ to protest

33 comments

  1. Well that didn’t take long for her to show her true colours.

    Caught at a peaceful protest? Do it again and we will put you in prison.

  3. >the Secretary of State reasonably believes that one or more persons are carrying out, or are likely to carry out, activities related to a protest **and** are likely to cause, serious disruption to the use or operation of any key national infrastructure in England and Wales, **or** access to any essential goods, or to any essential service, in England and Wales.

    Or for a worrying trimmed down version that this allows

    >the Secretary of State reasonably believes that one or more persons are likely to carry out, activities related to a protest and are likely to cause serious disruption…

    If you’re deemed **likely** to carry out any activity **related** to a protest that **might** cause disruption…

  5. Fascism is an overused word but fucking hell we are playing mighty close to the line where you can be fucked for being “likely” to protest. Fucking minority report bullshit.

  6. I’m never a fan of these sites because they’re often a bit over the top, but the ammendment is pretty easy to read itself and is just as bad as it sounds.

    [https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3153/stages/16631/amendments/10001084](https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3153/stages/16631/amendments/10001084)

    >the Secretary of State reasonably believes that one or more persons are carrying out, or are likely to carry out, activities related to a protest

    It’s now illegal to do something if Braverman literally just thinks about you.

  8. *Leading human rights groups say that the Public Order Bill, which is set to reach its final stages in the Commons today, would align the UK’s anti-protest laws with those in Russia and Belarus.*

  12. Can we somehow get this fascist ghoul out of any position of power already? How the hell did they manage to find a worse version of Patel?

  14. I don’t know about the ‘quietly’ in the headline. Braverman was loud & unhinged in the HoC today, identifying all of those she thinks need her kind of pre-crime punishment:

    “I’m afraid it’s the Labour Party, it’s the Lib Dems, it’s the Coalition of chaos, it’s the Guardian-reading, Tofu-eating, wokerati – dare I say the anti-growth coalition that we have to thank for the disruption we are seeing on our roads today!”

    For those expressing concern about premature use of the word ‘fascism’: this *is* a pretty cut and dried example, identifying all your political opponents as criminals and implementing a law to subjugate them.

  15. Well I hope to see the Redditors outraged by this out on the streets.

    I’m a little tired of saying the government is taking the piss, going to protests, and being criticised for it, only to find Reddit is awash with people saying it’s disgraceful but they did nothing

  17. If you thought Patel was a wicked piece of s**t wait until this one really gets going.. the fascists walk amongst us

  18. The fact that the Home Secretary does this while the Foreign Secretary is trying to chastise the Chinese over the assault on a protestor in a consulate here, just shows how full of shit they are.

  20. >Amnesty International said the proposed law on SDPOs *[Serious Disruption Prevention Orders]* would “go further” than similar legislation in Russia, by giving courts the power to issue them without a conviction. The range of conditions that can be imposed on individuals under the orders include 24/7 GPS monitoring and restricted internet usage.

    Couple this with the aim to legislate against those who *haven’t yet* commited any crime is downright totalitarian.

    And angry people stuck in traffic jams won’t give a fuck how that can be abused provided their car keeps moving.

  21. Not only did they manage to find a PM worse than Johnson they also managed to find a home secretary worse than Patel. That takes some serious dedication to awfulness.

  22. The Tories really are trying hard to compete with the Kremlin for the title of world’s shittest government.

  24. End this madness, they have absolutely zero mandate for any of this batshit posturing. Got to believe this crap is purely to take the heat off Liz.

  25. The Tories will be out of power for the next 20 years at least.

    This is only going to affect the next anti lockdown or anti vaccine protests who are basically trying to kill grandma.

  26. How far can you stretch the legal definition of protest?

    How far can you stretch the assessment of a likely protester?

    How long before political opponents end up in prisons as they are all likely protesters?

    This bill obviously doesn’t answer those questions because it is not intended to, it is ambiguous on purpose to enable its misuse.

  27. For what you would assume to be a fairly intelligent and successful barrister, she’s learnt nothing of the rule of law or basic human rights.

    I use her chambers a lot; very tempted to stop sending them any work, as petty and probably pointless such a small protest would be.

  28. Does this allow the punishment of people who are only “thinking” of protesting?

    Is our Home Secretary proposing to make “thought-crime” a criminal act?

  29. I mean, if protesting becomes illegal then we might as well riot instead. Really lean into the “being a criminal” thing. Set fire to stuff.

  31. No fuck off you would be tyrant.

    Protests are a core benefit of real democracy, yes it disrupts, it can piss people off but better than being thrown in jail for not liking how things are done.

  33. Fascism? Fascism anyone?

    Ya know that thing, the “radical” left, have been warning everyone about for years?

    You idiots deserve this for voting it in.

Leave a Reply