when i was watching the wright stuff this morning..hehe, as you do...they were discussing a newspaper article from today that claimed that the government maybe be looking to impose restrictions on when protests can take place,and SHOCK HORROR, banning protesting siz days a week!! its all come about from the problems caused by some protesters who have taken things too far and have begun threats and intimidation against people who work for huntingdon life sciences... what does everyone think about this? im tryin to find the article but cant remeber which paper it was!! sorry... i think its an abomination..taking away any kind of free speech...surely we have the right to protest? if that was taken away from us wouldnt we be living under a dictatorship?? love luch x
i think we have a right to protest, but then again i think people take protesting too far. i watched a programme on London a week or 2 ago, they were looking at protesting from different era's in london. nothings really changed much apart from the topics people are protesting about. there has always been violence with protesters but i do think things are getting out of hand where protesting is concerned. its like football hooliginism <spl> there are people that go to watch football because they enjoy it and they love football but there are those people who go just to fight & cause trouble. the same with protesting, people go to march & express their feelings on topics they feel strongly about but there are people who go just to fight & its these people that spoil it for the rest of us. yes i think something needs to be done about it but i also think if the govenmet ban protest then they take away our right to free speach. i know you may think this has nothing to do with this subject but, i get very mad with news papers because they cause so much trouble within our country. they cause racism, they are very anti europe and people actually believe whats written. news papers are all one sided, they print the cons of subjects and never the pro's like europe. they print why the uk shouldnt join the euro, they print all they why nots and never the good points of why we should. i've often asked my dad why the govenment never do anything about the papers, put restrictions on how they word articals etc and i get the same answer, the right to free speach...... the same with protesting, we have a right to free speach, we have a right to let the dick heads who run our country to let them know what we think, how we feel etc....take that away and what will we become?
if restrictions are made, it should only be for those protesting in un-peacefull manners...ie:violent protests. one of the major points about protest is that you are going against something....so i don't really think the government can impliment "can you protest between 2pm and 6pm on sundays?"
As soon as they start making restrictions on freedom of congrigation then the government has gone too far! which is already
looks like it has begun in america... How does a city or state keep protesters at bay and out of sight? Pass a law restricting protests to a small area, or include so many rules that protests are nearly impossible to organize. This article explains a bit about the difficulties some people are facing as they attempt to organize protests in Georgia at the upcoming G-8 Summit. The coastal city of Brunswick, where Randall hopes to gather up to 10,000 people to protest the world leaders' summit, passed a law last month that places conditions on public demonstrations. Organizers of protests like Randall's "G-8 Carnival" must put up refundable deposits equal to the city's estimated cost for clean up and police protection. Demonstrations may only last 2 hours, 30 minutes. Signs and banners may not be carried on sticks that might be brandished as weapons. And the signs may not be larger than 2-by-3 feet. i think its really sad...i know there is a need to combat the issue of those 'protesters' who are just there for a fight...but protesting is about going against something...how is that possible with all these laws and restrictions...we live in a crazy world...lets hope this doesnt happen in britain
ah hah! just found the issue brought up on the wrights show this morning...which may i add is a show of excellence especially when you are skiving off work and feel trisha's striking resemblance to a tweenie is too much to cope with at 10am... ANIMAL RIGHTS: RIGHT TO PROTEST? Animals rights activists protesting outside the infamous Huntingdon Life Sciences lab have been injuncted - they are now only allowed to demonstrate once every seven days. Is that fair - sure, there have been allegations that protestors have harrassed lab workers - and that's out of order - but if someone wants to demonstrate peacefully 24 hours a day seven days a week should they be allowed to?
In the US they have "Free Speech" pens... i.e. they fence the protesters in. On the issue of violent protesters: In my experience of protesting the police are the first ones to instigate or at least incite violence. We should have the right to protest as and when we feel it is needed. Anything less is an infringment of human rights. The issue of violent protesters is just an excuse to try to shut us up.
i agree claire... the minority of protestors that feel the need to be violent should be dealt with seperately... i think if restrictions are put in place in the uk it will be so ridiculous and unfair...there are so many peaceful protestors that are fighting against injustice and cruelty... oh man... its so silly!!
yes, of course the majority of protestors are peacefull, as that is the best way to go about it but there are exceptions, though the government has no right to stop peacefull protests in any shape or form
I believe that everyone, no matter what should have the right to demonstrate. That is everyone, including fuel protesters, neo-nazi groups, the BNP, the anti-Nazi league, greenpeace, CND, pro-cycling lobbyists, print workers, miners, ambulance staff etc. Would it be right to ban the BNP from their demos but still allow the ANL theirs? People are generally able to make up their own minds whether these organisations are worth supporting or not. The problem is that unless a demo has an impact on the way we live it rarely achieves results. So what happens when direct acion is taken by a cause that you don't agree with or find distasteful ... at what stage should it be considered as being out of hand?
It is illegal to incite racial hatred, but the BNP carefully avoid that - officially and in public anyway. I think it's good that they have the right to air their views and get allotted time in the national media for Party Political Broadcasts. The only way to fight them is to expose their lies to the light of day and cold hard reason. Banning them would drive them underground and make them harder to nail down. It's also important on principle to let *anyone* air their political views, no matter how wrong we might think they are. Any of us may ourselves be wrong to believe what we do (though I doubt it in the case of being anti-fascist) and the idea that someone is not free to criticise the way things are or to present an alternative view is actually quite disturbing. We have to put up with the BNP's disgusting propaganda - as long as it doesn't cross over into race hatred. Allowing them to believe anything they want is an essential part of freedom.
I'm not a supporter of the law makers in this country, I don't need to be told what is acceptable or unacceptable, so what is illegal or illegal is pretty irellevent to me as I trust my conscience rather than legal dictates created by a bunch of politicians. Any expression of hatred, whether racial or otherwise is pretty unattractive. If people are allowed to express it then they soon show themselves up. Physical or mental intimidation is a different matter though, I feel that we all have a responsibility to protect one another.
True. Open debate with the BNP is needed. One of the problems as showmet said is that they avoid out and out incitement in public. They also mislead people with untruths. Confronting them in an open and frank debate would make it easy to uncover the flaws in their statements. As did this BBC programme: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2001/bnp_special/default.stm Back to the original post. I guess by fighting for the rights of protesters and freedom of speech means that I promote the freedom of speech and right to protest of such organisations as the BNP too. Love Clairexxx
