OPEN LETTER SAYS THAT OUTDOOR PROTESTS DO NOT SPREAD COVID AND BANNINING THEM FACILITATES POLICE TARGETING OF CAMPAIGN GROUPS
MS BETHAN SAYED AMONG SIGNATORIES
LETTER COMES AS MORE ‘KILL THE BILL’ PROTESTS PLANNED IN WALES AGAINST AUTHORITARIAN POLICE AND CRIME BILL.
Community groups and trade unionists have hit out Welsh Government in a letter to First Minister Mark Drakeford following news that while the Tories are relaxing restrictions on public protest in England, the Welsh Government intends to continue to ban protest with organisers potentially liable for fines.
In England, a new exemption to rules came into effect on Monday March 29, meaning that protests can go ahead as long as organisers obey public health guidelines. But the Welsh Government has implied protests will continue to be banned in Wales under ongoing lockdown rules.
Welsh community groups signing the letter include People’s Assembly Wales, Cardiff and Vale Momentum, Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter, Save the Northern Meadows, ACORN Renters Union, Undod and Cardiff Civic Society.
The outgoing Plaid Cymru Member of The Senedd, Bethan Sayed, who attended a protest in Cardiff last month called after police attacked a vigil for Sarah Everard, has also signed the letter, published in full below.
“With major attacks on living standards, the deaths of Mohamud Hassan and Mouayed Bashir in South Wales following police contact and other issues, protests are inevitable,” the letter read. “Protests are happening despite the ban. All the protest ban does is facilitate police targeting of campaign groups and inflame tensions between communities and the police. Criminalising people for protesting is wrong. There is also a dangerous scope for police abuse of powers, particularly against campaigns representing marginalised sectors such as Black Lives Matter, or Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities whose way of life is threatened by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.”
Other individual who have put their name to the statement include leading trade unionists Marianne Owens, Chair of PCS Wales and Mairead Canavan, National Education Union Executive member for Wales.
Adam Johannes from People’s Assembly Wales who initiated the letter said:
“We back public health measures and have campaigned for the Welsh and UK Government to take a far more effective approach, following countries such as New Zealand, Vietnam and Taiwan who have suppressed the virus far more effectively and with far lower death tolls.”
“The Welsh Government banning public protest outright though is a step too far. With living standards under attack, mass job cuts, civil liberties threatened, illegal evictions happening, rising racism and many other social problems, people may feel they have little choice but to take to the streets. They should not be criminalised. Rather we should aim to make the protests as Covid-safe as possible”
A spokesperson from the Cardiff and Vale branch of Labour group Momentum said the Welsh Government should be applying the same exemption as England,
“Uncertainty over a protest’s legal status makes it much harder to make sure that everyone does social distance, because you can’t organise. If it could be organised it would be a safer event.”
Campaigners also argue that there is little evidence that outdoor protests that are masked and socially distanced are a significant factor in the spread of the virus saying that non-essential work being allowed to continue during lockdown is where Welsh Government focus should be.
“The Swansea DVLA office has seen over 500 Covid cases since September in the worst Covid workplace outbreak in the UK. This follows hundreds more workers being forced to work on site than during the first lockdown. Currently workers are having to go on strike to stop the spread of Covid,” the letter says.
The letter comes ahead of protests across Wales on Saturday 3rd April against the government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill including protests at 2 pm at the stone circle, Bute Park, Cardiff and 1 pm at the Clock Tower in Aberystwyth.
FULL TEXT OF OPEN LETTER TO MARK DRAKEFORD
“The Tories have lifted the Covid protest ban in England. Welsh Government has said it has no plans to lift the ban in Wales. With major attacks on living standards, the deaths of Mohamud Hassan and Mouayed Bashir in South Wales following police contact and other issues, protests are inevitable.
Protests are happening despite the ban. All the protest ban does is facilitate police targeting of campaign groups and inflame tensions between communities and the police. Criminalising people for protesting is wrong. There is also a dangerous scope for police abuse of powers, particularly against campaigns representing marginalised sectors such as Black Lives Matter, or Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities whose way of life is threatened by the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Civil liberties groups have expressed concern that the police are using Covid-19 politically to quash dissent. In England, a Manchester nurse was fined £10,000 for a socially-distanced protest against a derisory government 1% pay rise. Recent policing of the London Vigil for Sarah Everard and Bristol ‘Kill the Bill’ protests have caused controversy.
In Wales, a Black Lives Matter protester was fined £500 by the police for attending community protests for police accountability after the death of Mohamud Hassan following police contact. Women organising vigils for Sarah Everard report being threatened with £10,000 fines after police visits to their homes.
Finally, there is little evidence that outdoor protests where people are masked and socially distanced are any significant factor in the spread of Covid. Major spikes have come from workplaces, and non-essential work being allowed to continue during lockdown. The Swansea DVLA office has seen over 500 Covid cases since September in the worst Covid workplace outbreak in the UK. This follows hundreds more workers being forced to work on site than during the first lockdown. Currently workers are having to go on strike to stop the spread of Covid.
We call upon Welsh Government to follow England in immediately lifting restrictions on protest.”
Signed: Bethan Sayed MS, Plaid Cymru, South Wales West; Mairead Canavan, NEU Executive member for Wales, Marianne Owens PCS Union National Executive & Chair PCS Wales, Dinah Mulholland, Unite, UCU, Ceredigion Labour Party, Jim Scott, Wales rep on The People’s Assembly Against Austerity UK Steering Committee, Jackie Gilderdale, WASPI Campaign 2018 National Steering Group & WASPI Organiser, Pembrokeshire & Carmarthen West, Adam Johannes, Cardiff Stop the War Coalition & Len Arthur, Convenor of People’s Assembly Wales
Organisational signatures: People’s Assembly Wales, Cardiff and Vale Momentum (Welsh Labour Grassroots), Extinction Rebellion Cymru, Black Lives Matter Cardiff & Vale, Stand Up to Racism Cardiff, Caerdydd Extinction Rebellion, Cardiff Stop the War Coalition, ACORN Cardiff, ACORN Aberystwyth, Left Unity Wales, Undod, Save the Northern Meadows, Reclaim Cardiff, Cardiff Civic Society, Cardiff Trades Union Council, Trade Union & Socialist Coalition Wales.
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