Thread by @IanDunt

Quick thread on an aspect of the policing bill which has been under-discussed: the provisions on trespass. This section targets Gypsies and Travellers.

They are groups who very few people give a damn about and have been targeted by governments throughout the centuries. It is happening again now.

It's in Part 4 of the bill, which amends Part 5 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. Both relevant sections here:

publications.parliament.uk/pa/bills/cbill…

legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/…

These provisions refer to any kind of land, but they are mostly going to concern public land. Private landowners already have a whole array of powers to get people off their property.

Previously, police could take action against Gypsies and Travellers if they had done something wrong. They had to have "caused damage to the land or to property on the land or used threatening, abusive or insulting words".

Alternately, they could take action if they had six or more vehicles on the land. But the new bill allows police to take action if they have just one vehicle.

And they do not need to have done anything at all. The police officer just needs to suspect that significant damage or disruption "is likely to be caused".

Similarly, if they suspect that "significant distress... as a result of offensive conduct" - defined as "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour" - is likely to be caused, they can also take action.

In other words: You do not actually need to have done anything. All that is required is that the police *suspect* you will do something.

If the police do suspect this, they can "seize and remove any relevant property". This includes the vehicle. But for these communities, it is not just a vehicle. It is their home.

So on the basis of a suspicion that a Gypsy or Traveller might in future insult someone, they can take away all their belongings.

What does this mean? In effect, it takes away any kind of justice from Gypsies and Travellers.

Sure, they can challenge. They can get their day in court. But at that moment when the police officer arrives, they can take everything from them if they do not comply with their demand that they leave.

And what really means is that they will not be able to settle anywhere. They will be kept permanently on the road to nowhere, moving for fear of having everything taken from them.

This bill is massive. Hundreds of pages. And everywhere you look you find draconian powers, handed to police, to do as they damn well please, targeting the most vulnerable and marginalised people in the country.

The fact it is being rushed through the Commons just days after being published is an insult. But not just that: It is a plan. A plan to make sure you don't know what's in it. To ensure that MPs pass it before they understand what's in it.

If you want to support Gypsies and Travellers, or find out how they are targeted, follow @GypsyTravellers and check out gypsy-traveller.org

And here

https://twitter.com/MsLaura_Brown/status/1371458572375232512?s=19

"This legislation... will push Gypsies and Travellers into the criminal justice system, merely for existing nomadically."

The @GypsyTravellers briefing on the bill is here gypsy-traveller.org/wp-content/upl…