#UK: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill casts #protest as an inconvenience rather than a fundamental right to be protected.

In our analysis w/ @LawOfProtest, we assess the bill’s compliance w/ int' standards.
A thread on our analysis. https://bit.ly/2RYWAT3 

2/ The #UK gov't quotes examples of protests by different #humanrights and #environmental #ClimateAction groups, and also the costs associated with their protests, to justify the new powers and penalties set out in the Bill. #KillTheBill

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However, international standards are clear that the right to #peacefulassembly incorporates some degree of disruption.

They also explicitly reject any attempt to justify the imposition of restrictions on protest on grounds of cost.

4/ The bill also raises other concerns in terms of:
the state's obligation to promote an enabling environment for peaceful assemblies;
additional thresholds for intervention;
regulation for one-person protests;
meaning of ‘serious disruption’;
Increased penalties.

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Overall, if adopted in current form, the Bill will likely violate int'l human rights standards by striking at the essence of the right to #freedomofassembly by:

conferring discretion on the Home Secretary to define ‘disruption’ without Parliamentary oversight;

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introducing vague concepts (e.g., ‘serious unease’) subject to discretionary interpretation by the police;
increasing the powers of the police to decide on fundamental issues about the exercise of the right;
disproportionately increasing the penalties for protesters.

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Read our full analysis here on the #UK law for more details :
#protest #KillTheBill #freedomofassembly

https://ecnl.org/news/protest-section-uk-bill-incompliant-international-standards