On Tuesday 16 March of hundreds of people gathered at parliament square to protest against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill which was debated in the House of Commons that day.
This is the third in a series of protests outside parliament since the events at Sarah Everard’s vigil on Saturday. A police officer has been charged with her murder. There was public outrage over heavy handedness from the police during the vigil, which included detaining and arresting women there.
This outrage feeds into a wider public concern about the conditions on protests in the bill that limit the freedoms of protesters, which was the message that rang out in the chants of the crowd last night.
The bill proposes giving police more powers to restrict public protests and handing out 10-year maximum sentences for criminal memorial damage. It will continue to pass through the Houses of Parliament.
The crowd comprising of all ages shouted chants like ‘kill the bill’ and sported signs reading ‘defund the police.’
Confrontations broke out between the crowd and the long line of police officers guarding their building.
