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We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to repeal the 1997 Harassment Act that criminalises legitimate protest. More details
Submitted by Chris Pook – Deadline to sign up by: 07 August 2008 – Signatures: 51
More details from petition creator
This act allows the government, individuals and corporations to have arrested any individuals engaged in legitimate protest against their actions and policies. The poorly worded legislation creates an offence of trying "to persuade any person ... not to do something that he is entitled or required to do" or "to do something that he is not under any obligation to do", if in so doing you are deemed to be harassing him. Harassment is defined as "alarming the person or causing the person distress". No definition of alarm or distress is given. This legislation has eben used to rpevent several harmless acts of protest and to threaten many others with, examples include protesters outside the US intelligence base at Menwith Hill, a protester in Hull- on the grounds that he had been "staring at a building", woman who had sent two polite emails to an executive at a drugs company, begging him not to test his products on animals, the residents of a village in Oxfordshire banned from protesting against RWE npower's plan to turn Thrupp Lake into a dump for fly ash and now the climate change protesters at Heathrow.
Current signatories
Chris Pook, the Petition Creator, joined by:
- John Talbot
- Robert Carver
- Paul Schleifer
- Cedric Lacey
- Thomas Pirovano
- Alexandra Deller
- Anthony cain
- Alan Street
- Richard Tingle
- nova brockbank
- L J Pasquire
- mairi mackechnie
- Chris Welch
- Nat Queen
- Kevin Quinn
- kate nielson
- Andrew Main
- Derek R Allum
- ned minns
- Nicki Ledger
- David Collins
- Hena Chowdhury
- James Sinclair
- Jenni Sinclair
- Jeremy Wells
- s cleverly
- jade eastwood
- Ben Parish
- Richard Stretton
- David Wyn Davies LL.B.
- john braddock
- Shailen Patel
- Martin Deane, Green Party
- I agree with examples in THIS petition but NOT with previous anti-1997 Act petition
- Carolyn Jackson
- paul anderson
- Bob MacCallum
- P E G COPE
- Abdullah Rhodes-Taylor
- nigel melia
- Philip MacDonald
- A.HANLAN
- Brian Wainwright
- Eddie Gadsden
- Stuart Leather. Restore our democracy !.
- yorkie
- Stuart Fyfe
- PETER HOWARD
- Tom Tamplin
- Deolinda eltringham
