Protesters outside Moray MP's office to make stand against UK Government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill
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PROTESTERS staged a silent demonstration in Forres this week against the UK Government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
Extinction Rebellion (XR) Forres members and other concerned citizens gathered outside the High Street office of Moray MP Douglas Ross, who has voted in support of the Bill, on Wednesday, December 8.
The protesters held placards and taped up their mouths to make a stand against the Bill, which XR Forres says will seriously diminish the ability of people to demand justice in England and Wales, and affects the people of Scotland indirectly.
An amendment to the Bill would give police the power to stop and search people and seize items for "locking-on" – a commonly-used form of protest whereby protesters attach themselves to another person, to an object or to land.
Another government amendment would make it a criminal offence to obstruct in any way major transport works from being carried out.
The local activists gathered in support of protests outside the House of Lords on Wednesday, on the day the Bill was being amended.
Allan Gray, a local activist, said the Bill was removing the power of people to call for justice. He said: "Let us not forget these same civil liberties were used by Suffragettes to get the right to vote and were used to call for racial justice in the civil rights movement.
"The right to non-violent protest has shaped the society we live in and Douglas Ross has chosen neither to challenge this dangerous Bill or stay silent. Instead he is actively supporting this Bill.
"He will say much of the Bill doesn't apply to Scotland, which is true, but he cannot celebrate solidarity of the Union on one hand whilst removing their fundamental rights with the other. That is not justice."
XR Forres member Rachel Winter added: "The new amendments to the bill are really disturbing and even though they might not all apply in Scotland, at least for now, they will still affect any Moray residents going down to protest outside Westminster, as many of the XR Forres members have done in the past."
In a speech after the silent protest, former history teacher and XR Forres member John Lardner said: "This Bill violates your right to protest. It seriously inhibits if not removing altogether, your right to take to the streets, and using non-violent protest to hold the UK Government to account.
"We stand in solidarity with our friends in England and Wales and their right to protest."
WATCH: Forres demonstration against the UK Government's Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.
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