Quakers take silent protest from Scotland Yard to parliament

On Tuesday 17 March, Quakers will hold a silent Meeting for Worship outside New Scotland Yard. They’ll then join a mass lobby of parliament to defend the right to protest.

The meeting follows two police raids on Quaker premises. On 5 March the Metropolitan Police raided Westminster Meeting House, arresting 15 people attending a nonviolent direct action training session.

No one has yet been charged. No one from the first raid, less than a year ago, was ever charged either.

The Quaker meeting takes place at 11.45am at the southern end of Embankment Gardens, with supporters invited to meet from 11.15am. There will also be a livestream.

Quakers – 350 years of resisting oppression

Caroline Nursey, clerk of Westminster Quaker Meeting, said:

Quakers have been accustomed to oppression by the state for over 350 years. We will continue to hire space to explicitly nonviolent groups, just as we always have.

After the meeting for worship, participants will join a mass lobby of parliament from 2pm. Amnesty International UK, Greenpeace, Liberty, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Quakers in Britain, and major trade unions have organised the lobby.

At meetings in Westminster Hall, they will urge MPs to reject the “cumulative disruption” clause in the Crime and Policing Bill. This clause is dangerously broad and undermines human rights. In particular it threatens the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.

Though its primary target is Palestine marches, it could sweep up campaigns on peace, climate justice, and much more.

Police could ban an anti-racist march from Whitehall because of a previous farmers’ protest. Or they could restrict a pride march because a far-right demonstration recently happened in the same town.

The Crime and Policing Bill is part of a broader trend in the UK of cracking down on those who disagree with the government.

The UK is already the only western European country which Civicus has rated “obstructed” for civic freedoms. And a United Nations Special Rapporteur has criticised the UK’s approach.

Gina Romero, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, will attend the mass lobby and hold separate meetings with MPs.

Find full details of the Quakers’ event here.

Featured image via the Canary