'Kill the Bill' protesters march through Tooting to 'defend the right to protest'

On Sunday 18 April, over 50 people marched from Tooting Broadway to Tooting Common to show their opposition to the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill.

At Tooting Common many more people joined to hear seven speakers spell out why they oppose the Bill.

The protest was called by Extinction Rebellion Wandsworth and Wandsworth Stand Up To Racism (SUTR), supported by Wandsworth Momentum.

The Bill had its second reading in Parliament on 16 April, moving it a step closer to becoming law. It is due to return for a final reading in June or July.

"The Government is frightened of what we can achieve when we stand together," said Hannah Stanislaus, Labour candidate in the Bedford Ward by-election.

"XR is a movement of movements and we stand in solidarity with all other groups here today,' said Flo Jarvis of XR Wandsworth.

Battersea councillor Maurice Mcleod said: "The government don't think of anything other than themselves and they can't understand solidarity.

"They have a go at the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community, and they think anyone who's not in that community will say, 'OK, that's all right', they're missing the point.

"Solidarity is our secret weapon. If we're climate activists, or from Black Lives Matter, or from the LGBTQ community, it's our right to come together and say this isn't right."

A former police chief, Michael Barton, told The Guardian that the new protest laws were UK ministers "flexing their muscles via their police forces".

The Conservative Party are in strong favour of the bill, which they say will help crack down on demonstrations that are 'too noisy' or cause 'serious disruption'.

The bill also hopes to gain stronger punishment for those who damage statues.

This comes after Home Secretary Priti Patel branded Black Lives Matter protests as 'dreadful' in an LBC interview.

In the interview, she says: "We saw policing as well coming under a great deal of pressure from some of the protest."

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