Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

Guardian journalist John Crace sums up the government’s current attitude towards protest in his usual witty style.

He writes: “The right to protest is a fundamental liberty, Patel insisted. Just so long as it wasn’t done in a way that was noisy or annoying to her. From now on, any protest must be done in a whisper – preferably between 11 and 11.15 in the morning – and only be on government-approved topics …”

Witty indeed, but perhaps bringing to our attention a leaning from government towards restricting even more of our most basic civil rights … like the right to protest.

While we’ve all been distracted by stories from the Windsor dynasty and how much Boris has spent on his new briefing room (how much?!) they’ve been pushing through the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, which has just had its second reading. Proposals to allow police significant leeway to stop protests on grounds including noise are included in the Bill.

Current Covid restrictions accepted, I wonder what would happen if we were to take to the streets again?

Any DANners out there interested in a chat?!

BTW, you can sign a petition online to protest the changes proposed in the Bill.

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

Two disabled protesters are being confronted by a police officer in full riot gear. He has put his finger to his lips and is saying Shhh. One of the protesters, a young Asian woman, carrying a ‘free our people’ placard is saying: “Didn’t he used to work down the local library?!” On the ground at the feet of the policeman is a piece of paper with ‘New Police Crime Bill means no noisy protests’ printed upon it.