Forget about those Parties, forget about Johnson – the Tories are removing our Freedoms one by one.
It’s the Tories we need to get rid of, not just the current Prime Minister.
Three years ago I, and about a million other people, marched to Parliament Square campaigning for another Referendum on Brexit – now that the British people finally were realising what it was all about.
.
Sadly the Conservatives got enough Labour support to vote out our call for a second referendum (or “third”, some say).
However protest like that might be difficult or impossible in the future.
The Conservatives have brought in an Elections Bill – which will make it more difficult to vote by requiring mandatory photo ID to be presented at the polling station – although I personally always have my bus pass to hand.
They have brought in a Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Bill which will make it more difficult to express democratic protest.
The common law offence of public nuisance is to be abolished and replaced with a new statutory offence of “intentionally or recklessly causing public nuisance.”
If bystanders who disagree with the protest hear chants or “noise” at demonstrations that they feel, or “may” feel, are “intimidating” or cause them “to feel unease”, then the protestors can be fined or imprisoned for up to 10 years.
Similarly penalties would apply to static protests, even if silent, if any persons are, or feel, or they may be, “inconvenienced”.
The government wants to be able to impose time limits and defined maximum noise limits to make it easy to prove an offence occurred and “make it easier to convict protestors who ignore the conditions placed on a protest,” according to i-paper reports.
And, for good measure, you could get up to 10 years in prison for defacing a “memorial”. You wouldn’t get more if you were actually convicted of slavery yourself! (just to choose a crime at random).
Even a lone protester with a placard would, if using an amplified speaker, be liable to a £2,500 fine if they didn’t stop if asked by a police officer to do so.
But if that’s not enough, the police will be able to apply for “controlled areas” – and the first one will be (yes, you’ve guessed it) Parliament Square!
I suppose it’s better that having mounted yeomanry charging an unarmed crowd with sabres.
Then there are other matters, such as ensuring a loyal Tory is appointed to run the Electoral Commission and for donation rules to be changed in ways that will favour the Conservative party.
And of course – restrictions on Third Party campaigning.
Third parties are organisations or individuals that are not standing for election themselves, but are spending money on certain election-related activities or material, seeking to influence the outcome of the election.
So going back to the first theme…
GETTING RID OF JOHNSON IS NOT ENOUGH – to save our Democracy, WE MUST GET RID OF THE TORIES!