Police confiscate Brexit Man's P.A. system!

 

Steve Bray - Brexit Man

'Stop Brexit Man', Steve Bray, has spent six years shouting outside Parliament.

Mr Bray, a former coin dealer, from Port Talbot, in South Wales, became famous for playing protest songs on a loudspeaker in Parliament Square against the UK leaving the European Union. More recently, he's been protesting over 'Partygate', Boris Johnson, and other Government policies. But yesterday, within hours of a new law coming into effect, police officers seized his amplifiers and P.A. system. As police officers tried to snatch the speakers off Mr Bray, he was heard to shout, "You're fascists." A bystander who witnessed the incident, told the police, "This is a free country."

Under the 'Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act', introduced by the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, a new offence of "recklessly causing public nuisance" has been created. Among other things, this law gives the police the right to "impose conditions on one-person protests", if senior officers "reasonably believe" that the noise it creates, "may result in serious disruption to the activities of an organisation in the vicinity, or have a significant, relevant impact on people in the vicinity." A demonstrator can be arrested if they "fail to comply with any conditions they knew or ought to have known had been imposed." Breaches of the law carry a six months jail sentence or an unlimited fine.

Critics say that protest is not a gift from the state, but is a fundamental right in a liberal democratic society and that protests by their nature, can be noisy and disruptive. They point out that Parliament makes laws and is therefore likely to be a focal point of protest. They believe that the new law is aimed at curtailing free speech and the right of protest.