ACTIVISTS will gather in Newtown on Saturday (January 15) to take part in a series of UK-wide demonstrations against a controversial UK Government Bill.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill’s legislation expands stop and search powers and its critics say it will criminalise the livelihoods of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) community among other things. Human rights charity Liberty has called the bill an “assault on basic civil liberties”, with Kill the Bill demonstrations set to take place across the UK this weekend.
Events are planned in Leeds, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield, while in Wales people will gather in both Cardiff and Newtown.
Those in the capital will gather at the St John Batchelor Statue from 1pm, while in Newtown, protestors plan to meet outside Santander on the High Street at 12pm.
The coordinator of the Muslim LGBT Network, Ejel Khan, said: “As a person of colour and a Muslim I have been stopped and searched on several occasions and the authorities need no reasonable justification now to continue to racially profile individuals such as myself.
“If the bill is passed racial divisions in society will become more entrenched than they currently are. This is state-sanctioned apartheid, which positively discriminates against minority ethnic communities.”
There are reports that members from the Montgomeryshire Labour Party, Plaid Cymru Maldwyn, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Extinction Rebellion and others will be attending the Newtown event.
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