‘Kill the Bills’ activists will take to Guildhall Square to protest ‘shambolic’ bills in demonstration

PROTESTERS will take to Guildhall Square this week as they speak out about two ‘shambolic’ bills causing controversy as they progress through parliament.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Activists will meet others at 4pm on Friday to speak out against the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill and the Nationality and Borders Bill.

Keira Power said that the demonstration will be part of a wider fight for democratic rights.

Read More
Coronavirus in Portsmouth: Queen Alexandra Hospital declares internal critical i...
Kiera Power at a previous demonstration. Picture: Mike Cooter (051121)Kiera Power at a previous demonstration. Picture: Mike Cooter (051121)
Kiera Power at a previous demonstration. Picture: Mike Cooter (051121)
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She said that the protest will challenge the ‘unlawful’ PCSC bill, which is ‘set to criminalise protest’, as well as the Nationality and Borders bill - a proposal which Keira argues ‘will threaten the lives of so many refugees’.

Keira added: ‘This demo is called Kill the Bills - we’ve added a ‘s’ as there are two shambolic bills going through at once.

‘The first is the PCSC which seeks to criminalise all forms of protest.

‘Protestors will be given harsher punishments under this bill.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘Peaceful protests will also be criminalised, and you can go to jail for going to a peaceful protest. It really is infringing on free speech.’

‘The second bill is the Nationality and Borders Bill, which is equally disgusting - an anti-refugee bill which would allow the government to deport any immigrants back to their country even if they haven’t lived there.

‘The government will be able to strip citizenship of any legal migrant.

‘If these bills go through, we won’t be able to protest, and we’ll see more refugee fatalities - and we won’t be able to do anything.’

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The government says that the PCSC Bill would allow police to take a ‘more proactive approach’ to prevent ‘highly disruptive protests’ disrupting the public.

It also argues that the Nationality and Borders bill would only use deprivation of citizenship as a ‘last resort against the most dangerous people’ or for those who ‘obtained their citizenship fraudulently’.

Keira is encouraging others to attend the Kill the Bills demonstration at Civic Officeswith placards and banners.

She said: ‘Even if you’re not an activist, if you’re going to attend a protest, this is the one to attend.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

‘You may not agree with Extinction Rebellion or BLM, but what about when it’s a cause you care about?

‘This isn’t just about leftist issues - this is authoritarianism.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

You can now subscribe here for unlimited access to our online coverage, including Pompey, for 26p a day.

Related topics: