Serious Organized Crime and Police Bill -- Demonstrating without authorisation in a designated area — 7 Feb 2005 at 22:00

Those voting Aye replaced a clause in the Serious Organized Crime and Police Bill, which was ostensibly designed to evict the long term peace protester, Brian Haw, from Parliament Square.

The new clause (number 18 in this debate, number 129 in the in the version that was delivered to the House of Lords) could be abbreviated as:

Any person who organises, takes part, carries on a demonstration -- even by himself -- in a public place in the Designated Area, if it is not part of a trade union dispute, is guilty of a criminal offence (unless permission has been requested from the police at least 6 days in advance and they have given authorisation).

The dimensions of the Designated Area were limited by 1 kilometre of Parliament Square, but its precise dimensions, which had they been known could have better informed the debate, were not revealed to the public until four months later in Statutory Instrument 2005 No. 1537.

This vote, Division 74, made it generally illegal to hold public demonstrations in the area. The next vote, Division 75, specified the terms under which one could be granted permission.

Debate in Parliament | Historical Hansard | Source |