The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill has been sponsored by Baroness Williams of Trafford and Dominic Raab MP. It has been passed by the House of Commons and read twice in the House of Lords. The new “public nuisance offence” is noted under section 61 (2).
The measures in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will improve the police’s ability to manage such protests, enabling them to balance the rights of protesters against the rights of others to go about their daily business, and to dedicate their resources to keeping the public safe,” the UK government noted on their website in July, and will “replace the existing common law offence of public nuisance with a new statutory offence as recommended by the Law Commission in 2015.”
“Members of the House of Lords voiced anger of the amendments late addition to the bill, which has already been voted on by MPs, and campaigners accused the government of trying to bypass parliamentary scrutiny. New powers to stop and search protesters and make ‘locking on’ a crime added to controversial policing bill,” the Independent reported.
However, the Independent and other corporate media have chosen to focus on “noise” and the recent protests blocking roads, avoiding to alert the public that “disease” had been added as “an act or omission” that “causes serious harm” to another....<<<Read More>>>...