Cardiff’s Extinction Rebellion Group believe they should have a right to protest
THE Welsh Government have suggested protests will continue to be banned in Wales for the foreseeable future under lockdown rules.
In England protests will be made an exemption to rules on group gatherings from Monday 29 March, meaning they can go ahead as long as organisers obey public health guidelines.
However, a Welsh Government spokesperson implied there were no similar plans in Wales, meaning in-person protests may not be able to be held until all similar larger gatherings are permitted.
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “We are in the middle of a public health emergency. For everyone wishing to hold peaceful protests, we would ask people to follow the rules which have protected us all from coronavirus and consider holding online events until larger gatherings can be held.”
Clare James, from Cardiff’s Extinction Rebellion group said: “We should have our right to protest, we always try and be Covid safe. The question is why haven’t we got this right, why isn’t that falling in line with England? I know there are reasons for differences between areas of the UK, but everything that we do is Covid safe.”
Despite Covid restrictions, regular protests have been held in Cardiff since the death of Mohamud Hassan, who died after spending the night at Cardiff Bay Police Station. Protests restarted after the death of Sarah Everard, and in response to the Police and Crime Bill.
The bill includes making a protest which has the potential to cause ‘serious annoyance’ potentially illegal, which could give the police the ability to crackdown on most peaceful protests even after Covid restrictions are lifted.
Ms James said that restrictions on protests can lead to violence and rioting, as was seen in Bristol on Sunday night, where injuries were sustained and police vans set on fire.
She said that the fact that protests cannot be organised by anybody means there are no stewards or marshals present to ensure protests run smoothly.
“XR have people who are trained in deescalation but you can’t organise that at the moment. You have people who might come along and want to protest against the bill who might be unfamiliar with protests and how you have to be very careful and mindful of your behaviour,” she added.
Cardiff’s Reclaim the Streets protests have been supported by various groups including Cardiff’s Black Lives Matter and Extinction Rebellion groups. There has been no violence at Cardiff’s protests.
Ms James said: “We are a non-violent group and we do non-violent actions. That’s one of our core principles and we were really sad to see the scenes in Bristol”.
However, Cardiff’s Black Lives Matter group posted on social media saying they support the violent protests in Bristol, and warned further violence would be committed if the Police and Crime Bill passes.
In a Facebook post, the group said, “the police have been setting our communities on fire for decades”, adding “We don’t care about your vans- we paid for them anyway”, in reference to the police van that was burned in Bristol.
The last ‘Reclaim These Streets’ protest was held on Saturday, when protestors marched from Cardiff Central Police station to Cardiff Bay.
