In this article, Colchester dives into international news involving the U.K. and the backlash it’s parliament has received recently due to new legislation. There has been a couple incidents of protests recently in the U.K. and this has led them to the creation of a 300-page bill involving what is allowed during protests. This new legislation gives great power to the police as “Clauses in the law would allow police to impose conditions on protests that are noisy or cause “serious unease” to people who witness them”, which relies on the officer’s interpretation of the situation (Colchester). The government’s statement is, “In recent years we have seen a significant change in protest tactics which have led to disproportionate amounts of disruption” (Colchester). They say that these laws do not threaten the freedom of expression. However, there is a large amount of citizens greatly unhappy with the laws and one major reason is the possibilities of punishment. Under the new laws, an individual could potentially face more time in prison for defacing a statue than committing rape. Hopefully that would never occur, but it has led many to believe that the U.K. needs to spend serious time revising its laws. Personally, I normally compare the U.K. with the U.S. when it comes to politics and freedoms, but in this situation, I believe that U.S. citizens have much more freedoms which I agree with.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/police-breakup-of-sarah-everard-vigil-heightens-scrutiny-of-u-k-plan-to-toughen-laws-against-protesters-11615836149
Jeremy Cardenas Blog #5
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