Letter – Having to pay to protest is wrong

Heather Finlay. Photograph: Hackney Green Party

Today the Hackney Green Party will be joining the Time to Act Climate Change demonstration as we believe climate change is one of the greatest threats to the planet, and that it is our right to speak out about it.

Yet this demonstration, along with others, nearly couldn’t go ahead.

The police has tried to force those planning demonstrations to use private security firms to close roads and manage traffic during demonstrations, because it no longer sees this as part of its role. It is an affront to our civil liberties to make organisations that work with police authorities to plan peaceful demonstrations employ private security firms.

As a community we pay taxes to exercise our rights as citizens and one of these rights is the right to peaceful demonstrations. The police maintains order and ensures safety around stadiums for football matches and other big events; therefore it should do the same for community driven, peaceful demonstrations. Making peaceful demonstration on our streets only available to those who have the money effectively gags all those who lack the funds.

Heather Finlay
Green Party parliamentary candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington