MEND Statement: Police Powers Bill
Categories: Latest News
Friday July 02 2021
On 5th July, MPs will vote on the Policing, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill. The Bill represents numerous harmful reforms, which, if passed, carry the power to curtail free expression, stifle dissent, and criminalise marginalised groups (especially Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities) through increased profiling and excessive policing.
The measures proposed by the Bill critically endanger functioning democracy in the UK, as well as threatening human rights to freedom of expression and assembly enshrined in articles 10 and 11 of the Human Rights Act and the ECHR.
As such, MEND urges MPs to defend democracy and our human rights by:
- Supporting amendments to defend the right to protest and committing to investigating heavy-handed policing and overreach at demonstrations.
- Supporting amendments to address inequalities raised by BLM.
- Committing to investigating structural Islamophobia and wider inequalities within the criminal justice system.
- Supporting amendments to scrap measures targeting Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller communities and to investigate hate crimes against them.