A mature democracy should be able to differentiate between criminal conduct and the peaceful exercise of constitutionally protected rights. We must ask ourselves whether we are a genuinely democratic country committed to protecting the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of speech.
Charity volunteer Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, 45, was standing quietly on a pavement in Birmingham when she was approached, questioned and subsequently arrested by police.
Officers had received complaints from an onlooker who suspected she was praying. She was not holding a sign or making any visible form of protest.
The police officer asked, ‘Are you praying?,’ to which Vaughan-Spruce said, ‘I might be praying in my head’.
She was then arrested on suspicion of ‘failing to comply’ with a Public Space Protection Order (PSPO), in what has been branded by critics as a ‘thoughtcrime’.
Vaughan-Spruce was formally arrested for breaking a Public Space Protection Order around the BPAS Robert facility in Kings Norton, an abortion clinic which has been the target for pro-life protestors in the past. She has been charged with breaching the order on four different occasions.
The PSPO, also known as a ‘buffer zone’ or ‘censorship zone’, came into force in September and was put in place by Birmingham City Council.
It prohibits prayer and protesting, among other activities, within a specified area around the abortion clinic.
MPs are currently considering Clause 9 of the Public Order Bill, which would prohibit pro-life individuals from ‘influencing’, ‘advising’, ‘persuading’, ‘informing’, ‘occupying space’ or ‘expressing opinion’ near abortion facilities.
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George Orwell, 1984. England. Thoughcrime.