“It is an attack on the basic democratic rights of working people in this country.”-Patrick O’Regan, Workers’ Revolutionary Party

The British government has created a new law, under the guise of stopping militant right wing groups from demonstrating: No demonstrating.

Officially the law is in effect for only 30 days, and was requested by Scotland Yard.  The police feared the militant right wing demonstrators would cause violence.

The problem is the law applies to everyone, not just militant groups.  Anyone marching can be arrested, fined, or even imprisoned.

Activists say the new law covers more than demonstrating: “They are talking about area curfews, they are talking about shutting down Facebook [and other] social network sites. They are talking about dictatorial civil war measures because what they are doing in Britain is creating a historic change, in which inevitably the majority of Britain will oppose them.”-Patrick O’Regan, Workers’ Revolutionary Party

Other activists say this is part of the government’s tippy toeing towards total authoritarianism: “Just in terms of where we are at the moment with the process of austerity being pushed through by the government, trade unions are one of the major blocs opposed to that. Public order legislation does tend to be used against striking workers.  That has been very clear and there have been some recent examples of that; people being pulled off the picket lines.  And that obviously weakens any resistance to the cuts.”-Richard Seymour, Socialist Workers Party