MORE
Priti Patel’s ‘Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill’ -
https://politicsthisweek.wordpress.com/2021/10/14/not-the-bcfm-politics-show-presented-by-tony-gosling-60/
Nick Rosen, of www.off-grid.net, has started a campaign to try and change Section 4 of the bill, where lived in vehicles staying overnight in a place can be seized by the Police.
https://www.mancunianmatters.co.uk/news/08102021-travelling-communities-rally-outside-conservative-party-conference-to-protest-new-police-bill/
Travellers protest outside the Tory Conference - Di Davies, a retired Police Detective, on how you get a leadership role in the Police nowadays. Gypsy and Traveller activists have gathered at the Tory Party Conference to show their determined opposition to the Police Bill. - Gypsy and Traveller community members and their supporters across the labour, human rights and environmental movement have gathered in Manchester outside the Conservative Party Conference. With everything at their disposal from their homes, vehicles and horses they came with one purpose: to show their determined opposition to Boris Johnson's Police Bill will seeks to make their traditional way of life illegal. - On Saturday the 2nd of October 2021 members of the Romany, Irish Traveller, New Traveller, Scottish Traveller and Welsh Gypsy communities held a national rally in the People's Assembly marquee set up in Picadilly Gardens. A selection of pictures by photographer Matt Pritchard can be seen here:
Nick Rosen author of Off Grid and from Off-Grid-Net takes us through the Police Crime Courts and Sentencing Bill, otherwise known as the Police State Bill and provoking various campaigns to stop it including 'Drive 2 Survive', 'Right 2 Reside' and 'Kill The Bill'. He explains - Petition - Amend PCSC Bill to withdraw power to seize vehicles used as mobile homes - An estimated 60,000+ people are living off-grid in accommodation such as vans, cars, buses, lorries or other mobile shelters in the UK. The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Bill should be amended to remove the power for police to seize their vehicles. These people tend to group together for security and companionship, but their occupation of land is due to the housing and job shortage. It does not amount to creating a protest site. "Van dwellers" are distinct from "travellers" which is a category with special protection under human rights legislation. Nor are they "protesters", whose activities are the main focus of Sections 3 and 4 of the PCSC Bill. The Bill creates a new offence targeting individuals who "reside on land without consent of the occupier of the land; have, or intend to have, at least one vehicle with them on the land...and "confers power on a constable to seize their vehicle/other property for up to 3 months...".
Travelling communities rally outside Conservative Party Conference to protest new police bill - Members of the Romany community, the Irish traveller community, and the Scottish traveller community joined together for the demonstration. Catherine Gould, 49, left home when she was 16 and has been a traveller ever since. She said she was taken in by a group of new-age travellers and taught about their way of life and how to look after herself. She said it felt hopeful to see different travelling communities joining together. Catherine said: ‘Most people in these communities just stick to their own, which is why this is a really big deal. ‘We’ve all come together for the first time ever. ‘It’s really powerful – there’s a lot of us when we come together.’ Jake said: ‘It feels good and it feels hopeful. ‘The one thing that can give you hope in this situation is to stand together because it makes you feel stronger.’ As well as being a blacksmith, Jake is a journalist and filmmaker, working to tell the unheard stories of his community. He is currently working on a TV documentary entitled ‘60 Days with the Gypsies’, that will air on Channel 4.
