File:Black Lives Matter - Kill the Bill. (51824064416).jpg

Thousands rallied in London as well as other UK cities to demonstrate against a law being passed by Britain's parliament that would effectively outlaw many protests, increase penalties for certain types of demonstration such as blocking roads and give the police far greater powers to stop, search and arrest.

If the measures contained in the government's Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts (PCSC) Bill had been in place over the last hundred years they may have prevented the suffragette protests of the 1920s, the marches and rallies for greater welfare support in the 1930s, the black civil rights and anti-Vietnam protests of the 1960s, the early gay pride gatherings in the 1970s, the anti-apartheid protests of the 1980s, the occupation of key locations by the Occupy movement and the more recent climate strikes.

The PCSC bill will give the police new powers to ban demonstrations deemed likely to be too noisy or a nuisance to a neighbourhood, to stop and search people without having to prove reasonable suspicion, new powers against 'unauthorised encampments' which travellers fear may be used against their communities and it would also make it illegal for protesters to lock themselves on to objects. The lock on strategy having been used successfully by activists defending the environment and protesting Britain's arms trade.

The bill proposes to increase the maximum prison sentence for someone who destroys a memorial or statue from 3 months to 10 years and It would also mean sentences of up to 10 years for a new crime of causing "serious annoyance." The cumulative impact of the draconian new powers, if enacted, could mean that most meaningful forms of effective protest would be outlawed.