Protesters thanked for peaceful event

Organisers of Hereford’s Kill the Bill demonstration say they have been thanked for a ‘peaceful and harmonious’ event.

Protesters gathered at 12pm on March 31 to oppose the proposed new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill which which proposes to give police in England and Wales more power to impose conditions on non-violent protests, including those which are deemed too noisy or a nuisance.

David Gillam, XR Marches external coordinator, said it was a “fine example of a harmonious collaboration between Extinction Rebellion, West Mercia Police and the Cathedral to facilitate their right to protest”.

“In my experience of these kind of events it’s rare for passers-by to come up to you and thank you for what you’re doing,” he said.

“At a time when it is abundantly clear that the police cannot sensitively and appropriately use their existing powers it is quite wrong to increase those powers still further.

“A couple of weeks ago we all saw the appalling scenes of women being handcuffed at the Clapham Common vigil for Sarah Everard.

“This sort of confrontational approach to policing peaceful protest is quite unnecessary. Everyone in Extinction Rebellion is committed to non-violence.”

Holly Miles, another protester, said: “We Herefordians and XR folk will not stand for this, it will be detrimental for our future, for us as people, for future generations and the planet – our home.

“The Human Rights Act 1998 was set in law to secure people’s freedom of speech and right to peacefully protest, let us stick together and not let our government take this from us” she said.

“After such a disconnected 12 months, one of the best things was to witness so many like-minded people coming together for a common cause and interacting over the mission of opposing the new PCSC Bill – which is threatening us all as a nation.”

Head of estates at Hereford Cathedral Alan Cartwright said they were “all very grateful” and thanked the protesters for being so respectful of their service.