Quakers condemn police raid on Westminster Meeting House
Police broke into a Quaker Meeting House last night (27 March) and arrested six young people holding a meeting over concerns for the climate and Gaza.
Quakers in Britain strongly condemned the violation of their place of worship which they say is a direct result of stricter protest laws removing virtually all routes to challenge the status quo.
Just before 7.15pm more than 20 uniformed police, some equipped with tasers, forced their way into Westminster Meeting House.
They broke open the front door without warning or ringing the bell first, searching the whole building and arresting six women attending the meeting in a hired room.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 have criminalised many forms of protest and allow police to halt actions deemed too disruptive.
Meanwhile, changes in judicial procedures limit protesters' ability to defend their actions in court. All this means that there are fewer and fewer ways to speak truth to power.
Quakers support the right to nonviolent public protest, acting themselves from a deep moral imperative to stand up against injustice and for our planet.
Many have taken nonviolent direct action over the centuries from the abolition of slavery to women's suffrage and prison reform.
Paul Parker, recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: “No-one has been arrested in a Quaker meeting house in living memory.
“This aggressive violation of our place of worship and the forceful removal of young people holding a protest group meeting clearly shows what happens when a society criminalises protest.
“Freedom of speech, assembly, and fair trials are an essential part of free public debate which underpins democracy."
I don't understand how 6 people inside their own private building constitutes a serious disruption. How can the police possibly spin that? There's no way this would be the headline if they were building bombs or something illegal.
They charged them on ‘Conspiracy to cause serious disruption’ , so planning to cause it essentially. Not that it makes this raid any better, and doesn’t immediately call into question who determines what a ‘legitimate’ protest is, with such deliberately vague laws.
I've not seen any farmers arrested for their rolling roadblocks so if I had to guess, it's if oil, weapons manufacturing, or finance that's the target it's not legitimate and therefore illegal.