Report from Anti-Racism Protest Defence Campaign:
The Anti Racism Protest Defence Campaign took to the streets on 10 October to speak out against police racism and political policing. We protested to defend anti-racists arrested and harassed by Northumbria Police.
The theme focused around defending the right to protest with street theatre depicting ‘protest defenders’ highlighting the importance of iconic historic protests in Britain. The performance asked where would we be without the suffragettes? The miners strike? The campaign to Free Nelson Mandela? Protests to defend North East beauty spot Druridge Bay from open cast mining plans have recently won a legal victory whilst a scene saluted the protests by healthcare workers to defend the NHS. The performance ended by asking passers by to defend the right to protest against racism, declaring ‘Black Lives Matter’.
Significantly this was the first publicly called Anti Racism Protest Defence Campaign event to go ahead since June without facing a ban from Northumbria police. Anti-racist events in Newcastle have faced repeated proscriptions as police issued multiple Section 14 notices and Section 35 dispersal orders over the summer. The defence campaign will continue to defend the right to protest and will continue to defend anyone arrested on anti-racist and Black Lives Matter protests in the city.
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