'The whole thing was a deliberate attempt to disrupt and diminish our protest.' Republic chief executive Graham Smith has urged the repeal of new laws that give police greater power to arrest protesters.
‘That law means we no longer in this country have the right to protest, we only have the freedom to protest contingent on the permission of senior police officers and politicians and it’s my view that those senior police officers were under immense pressure from politicians.
Labour frontbencher Andrew Gwynne said the new laws gave ‘disproportionate’ powers to the police but declined to commit the party to repealing if they came into power. ‘That would’ve been the appropriate approach to drown out those that wanted to protest rather than maybe heavy-handed practice that some have suggested may have taken place,’ he said.
Westminster City Council has raised concerns that women’s safety volunteers were among those arrested after rape alarms were seized.
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