UNITED KINGDOM: #KillTheBill protests continue amid police violence; Extinction rebellion Co-Founder arrested

CSOs condemn massive aid cut

In “a tragic blow for many of the world’s most marginalised people”, 200 UK NGOs have condemned government cuts to aid budget, which will not only have a devastating impact overseas, but will also leave many CSOs out of pocket, unable to sustain their programmes. In an open letter, CSOs warn that the government’s move to make cuts of up to 80% in the UK aid sector will severely endanger protection of local civil society activists, human rights defenders and journalists. The cuts will also see the removal of aid programmes providing vital support to people in poverty, women and girls, those in war zones, amongst others, whilst at the same time damaging the UK’s legitimacy to challenge other countries, protect fundamental freedoms and rights, and promote positive change globally. Neil Heslop, the chief executive of the Charities Aid Foundation, said:

“Aid cuts at this level risk permanent damage to dozens of international development charities and their delivery of life-saving programmes for the poorest…Without support, vital services will go and lives will be lost.”

The impact of the cuts is especially devasting following the tireless work of CSOs during the COVID-19 pandemic, who have stepped up to fill the gaps in government policy, both at home and abroad. The cuts have also been wide criticised by MPs and Members of the House of Lords.

Parliamentary accountability eroded by emergency legislation

One year on from in the introduction of emergency legislation due to COVID-19, the Hansard society has highlighted how accountability and control over government decision-making has diminished. Namely, the erosion of parliamentary control in relation to:

1. emergency legislation,
2. regulations, and
3. money;
4. the denial of equal participation rights to some MPs in the House of Commons,
5. the business and the wholesale and unnecessary use of proxy votes.

With decision-making concentrated at the Ministerial level, the lack of opportunities for democratic scrutiny has set damaging and dangerous precedents. Crucially, the ability of MPs, and in turn, ordinary people or CSOs in their constituencies, to scrutinise and hold policymakers to account, has a direct impact on transparency and democratic accountability.

Administrative and judicial review threaten avenues for accountability

The UK government has undertaken to conduct a review of Administrative Law, at the same time as launching a consultation on the reform of judicial review. CSOs have warned that the review could impact the ways in which people can hold the government to account. Jo Hickman, Director of Public Law Project said:

“Reforms that affect the carefully balanced system for judicial review could make it harder for people to hold governments to account and should not be undertaken lightly.”

Worryingly, the UK government appears to suggest that there is cause for reform, despite responses to the “The Independent Review of Administrative Law” report calling for this evidence and advocating for no or only gradual reform.

Priti Patel’s detention policies found in breach of human rights

In April 2021, a landmark court ruling held Home Secretary Priti Patel accountable for failures to ensure proper investigation of deaths in detention centres. Two judges in the UK’s immigration courts ruled that the Home Secretary’s detention policies breached human rights, following deficiencies in an investigation into the death of Oscar Lucky Okwurime from Nigeria in September 2019. The jury found that Okwurime had died unnaturally, because of neglect following a subarachnoid hemorrhage, which can rupture due to hypertension. CSOs have strongly condemned the Home Secretary’s increasingly restrictive immigration policies, which they argue puts migrants at even greater risk of human rights abuses. Liberty UK has warned that the proposals are part of “the government’s broader plan…to limit how it is held accountable through the courts, in Parliament, and on the streets” due to the narrowing of mechanisms in which ordinary people can hold them to account.

‘Abuse of power’ during Bristol police raids

Two young women reported that they were subject to “terrifying ordeals” in a series of undercover raids following the Bristol protests. Both women (aged 21 and 16 years) report being mistakenly arrested in their homes after plain clothed policemen arrived at their doors pretending to be postal workers, one was only partially clothed when arrested, and the other (16 years old) was tasered and held up against a wall. These cases foment the growing degradation of women’s confidence in police, following anger over the vindication of the policing of the Sarah Everard vigil in Clapham Common.

“It’s difficult to imagine how officers could possibly attempt to justify going undercover and using such aggressive tactics, including threatening the use of Tasers….We all have the right to protest and stand up for what we believe in. Aggressive treatment of protesters, and seeking to criminalise them, is intimidatory and threatens to deter people from exercising their rights.”- Lana Adamou, a lawyer at Liberty UK.

Climate activists targeted

As reported previously on the monitor, climate defenders have come under serious attack by the conservative government, with protesters facing vilification from senior governmental officials by being labelled as “extremists”. Several legal developments related to climate activists and their participation in protests took place:

• On 10th May 2021, the first in a series of trials for 50 Extinction Rebellion activists who blockaded Rupert Murdoch’s Broxbourne printworks began. Six activists who appeared in St Albans Magistrates’ Court are faces charges for obstructing a highway during a protest in September 2020 that disrupted the distribution of Murdoch’s newspapers.

“Civil disobedience is a revolutionary tool with a rich history. It works, and it’s beyond necessary. I take no pleasure in being arrested, being put on trial, or being trashed by the billionaire press, but I am not ashamed. Because I know that nothing will ever change unless ordinary people are prepared to make sacrifices, and I know that our sacrifice here and now pales in comparison to that of activists in the global south, or that of the generations that will come after me,” Extinction Rebellion activist and defendant Gully Bujack.

• In another trial related to the blockade, three activists were acquitted of charges of aggravated trespassing at the Liverpool Magistrates court on 28th April 2021. The home secretary, Priti Patel reacted to the outcome by calling the protest “’disruptive and dangerous”.
• On 21st April 2021, a jury found six Extinction Rebellion activists not guilty of vandalising the headquarters of oil company, Shell, during a protest staged in April 2019. The judge told the jury that it was rare for defendants to accept what they did, but still plead ‘not guilty’. “This is a highly unusual case,” he said. He then directed the jury, that apart from Sid Saunders (one of the accused), the defendants had no defence under the law.
• On 1st May 2021, during “May Day” action nine activists were arrested during protests in London, where some activists glued themselves to bridges in the city. Protests also took place in other cities.
• On 11th May 2021, co-founder of Extinction Rebellion, Gail Bradbrook, was arrested in her home and is facing charges of conspiracy to cause damage and fraud in relation to “Money Rebellion” protests which targets corrupt political economy, such as banks, that blocks climate action.

• According to Extinction Rebellion UK, since April 2019, there have been an estimated 2,000 prosecutions for protests organised by the group, with almost 1,000 trials still underway.

12 days of violent protest in Northern Ireland

From 29th March – 9th April 2021, a series of nightly protests took place in the cities of Londonderry, Belfast, Carrickfergus, Ballymena and Newtownabbey. The protests follow introduction of an Irish sea border and tensions over Brexit between pro-United Kingdom unionists and pro-Irish nationalist communities. Protests involved the use of bricks, bars, fireworks and petrol bombs, culminating in ongoing unrest and 88 injured police officers, who reacted with water cannons and arrests. Protestors have also suffered injuries, but numbers are unconfirmed. The protests bring serious concerns for Ireland and the Good Friday Agreement, which brought an end to the three-decades-long conflict over British rule in Northern Ireland