John Williams, Cardiff East Socialist Party
700 people protested to say ‘not my king’ in Cardiff on the day of the coronation. People were joining as we marched. “We don’t want to be poor anymore”, was the cry from some young lads who saw us go past – similar to the headline on the front page of the Socialist paper we were carrying (see ‘We won’t accept being made poorer’).
Being able to protest is a fundamental right. But in London, over 50 anti-monarchy protesters were arrested, including six organisers of the group ‘Republic’.
Blocked
And at one point, the police blocked all entrances to Trafalgar Square, where the protest was. Protesters reported that the police were seizing placards too.
Worse still, police arrested three volunteers with the Night Stars programme in the early hours of the day of the coronation, while they were out working. Night Stars works with Westminster council and the police to promote women’s safety at night, handing out rape alarms, for example.
All this comes less than a week after the Public Order Act received royal assent. These new laws are a draconian, undemocratic piece of legislation that give the police more power to clamp down on our right to protest. The Tories are trying to undermine the working class when we take to the street to protest against their hated policies.
The response from the Labour Party has been utterly pathetic. Labour shadow ministers have refused to say in interviews that a Labour government will scrap the new anti-protest law if it wins the next election.
Keir Starmer wants to make it clear to the capitalists and big bosses that Labour will refuse to meet any of the demands from the strike wave and, instead, will defend the interests of the rich and well off.
It’s correct that the Trades Union Congress (TUC) is now seeking legal action against the Public Order Act. But it needs to go further, mobilising the trade unions’ seven million members against it and the new anti-strike bill.
We need a new political party that supports our right to protest and will repeal all the anti-democratic and anti-union legislation.
