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28 Nov, 5 tweets, 3 min read
🚨URGENT: @metpoliceuk has issued misleading and chilling statements ahead of today's demonstrations in London, denying our rights to organise and attend protests under current Coronavirus laws.

We have sent an urgent letter to the Met with @libertyhq to demand a correction. ⬇️
This is a misrepresentation of the law that fails to respect both the Coronavirus Regulations and fundamental freedoms of assembly & expression, protected by the Human Rights Act.

Protests organised with a risk assessment + safety measures can be lawful.

By denying that political gatherings can be organised and attended lawfully with safety measures, police are making inevitable protests less safe and more likely to result in prosecutions.

We cannot allow police to trash the rule of law.
This goes for @MayorofLondon too. This is seriously misleading as to what the current 'lockdown' law permits and overlooks the many exemptions. Misrepresenting the law serves no one.

Protests with risk assessments and safety measures can be lawful.

This is not factual. @BBCNews please amend the bottom caption.

Police *claimed* protests are not permitted under current coronavirus regulations in England, but this is not true.

Please see our letter above for legal analysis; lawyers @Jules_Carey @lochlinnparker will confirm.

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More from @BigBrotherWatch

Big Brother Watch Profile picture
28 Nov
🚨BREAKING: A Big Brother Watch investigation has found councils using huge amounts of highly personal data + predictive analytics to create covid risk scores with private data firm Xantura - and even predict who might break self-isolation.

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8…
This extraordinary system, uncovered by our investigator @JHurfurt, includes a vast amount of data spanning “unfaithful & unsafe sex”, financial details, free school meals & dangerous pets.

It is stereotyping at its worst. We do not yet know where some of this data is sourced.
“This underlines the shift toward mass surveillance and data harvesting triggered by the pandemic. It's scandalous that councils are using experimental algorithms behind closed doors. We have a right to know how councils use our data to make decisions about our lives.” @JHurfurt
Read 5 tweets
Big Brother Watch Profile picture
3 Nov
The new lockdown law has been published.

Again, we're legally prevented from leaving our homes without "reasonable excuse".

The vote's a foregone conclusion. Johnson already instructed us to lockdown last week - MPs will vote for it after just 90 mins of 'debate' tomorrow.
To be in this position again, 7 months after the first lockdown, reflects the Government's astronomical failures over the past 9 months.

It is wholly unacceptable to plunge the nation into house arrest via leaks, press statements and complex, last minute Regulations.
We will get through this. But we must work harder than ever to recover.

The damage being done to lives, liberties and the rule of law cannot be understated.

Our civil liberties will never be the same again unless we fight to protect them fearlessly now.
Read 5 tweets
Big Brother Watch Profile picture
18 Sep
🚨NEW: A law is in force *today* requiring venues to collect our personal data, or else be fined £500.

Pubs, cafés, restaurants, even workplace canteens must refuse entry to anyone who doesn’t want to share this data.

This change is huge. It's a mass recording of our movements.
As well as pubs, restaurants + workplace canteens, this law requires

sports clubs + gyms 🏋️‍♀️
heritage sites 🏰
arcades 🕹️
hotels 🏨
museums 🎨
libraries 📖
barbers 💇‍♂️
nail bars 💅
community + youth centres 👨‍👩‍👦‍👦
village halls 🏡

AND many other locations to collect personal data.
Venues must display Gov-issued QR codes which link to the NHS contact tracing app when it's launched next week.

Don’t have the app? You'll be required to leave contact details, the time + date of your visit, the size of your group + the name of any staff member you interact with
Read 7 tweets
Big Brother Watch Profile picture
9 Sep
STATEMENT: The public is enduring a shock and awe campaign of complex and contradictory executive commands, endowed with the weight of criminal sanctions. Ministerial decrees like those we've seen today require us to reflect on the damage parliamentary democracy has sustained /1
during this crisis. The restrictions may be justified, but this should be a matter for parliament. It is alarming that ministers are governing via press statements rather than the democratic process. /2
CONTACT TRACING: The Prime Minister’s plans to legally require pubs, restaurants and other premises to demand customers’ details and become data controllers overnight are excessive, intrusive and pose serious privacy risks. Voluntary systems that respect individuals’ judgement /3
Read 5 tweets
Big Brother Watch Profile picture
2 May
GOOD NEWS! CPS to review EVERY charge, conviction + sentence brought under emergency coronavirus laws!

This follows our investigation into a teen wrongfully convicted after visiting his mum. In our report this week we called on CPS to review every case.

thetimes.co.uk/article/cps-wi…
This is the first time the CPS has ever launched a review of every charge under a specific law.

Huge thanks to our Researcher @madeleine_beth who has been calling courts! And Times journalist @fariha54 + human rights lawyer @Kirsty_Brimelow bringing much needed scrutiny👏
The Times view:

"This zealotry is unfair on law-abiding citizens who find themselves treated like criminals (..) That is particularly dangerous since the [rules] rely on public consent. Should large numbers decide to rebel, the police would not have the manpower to enforce them"
Read 6 tweets
Big Brother Watch Profile picture
19 Mar
STATEMENT on #CoronavirusBillUK:

The #CoronavirusBill:

Empowers police, immigration officers & public health officials to demand documentation; detain & isolate members of the public potentially indefinitely, including children; & forcibly take biological samples for testing /1
It permits prohibition of public events & gatherings without standard protections for strikes & industrial action that exist in Civil Contingencies Act 2004.

It weakens safeguards on the exercise of mass surveillance powers, quadrupling time review limits for urgent warrants /2
It is right that Government is taking rapid and robust action to protect public health, but we cannot let basic rights fall casualty to this crisis.

Our country faces challenges best when we hold onto our values, not abandon them. /3
Read 8 tweets

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