The Green Party’s Home Affairs spokesperson and member of the Metropolitan Police Authority, Jenny Jones, has reacted to today’s news of two arrests at Parliament Square as security searches are carried out on the tented community, dubbed ‘Democracy Village’ by protesters.
Jenny Jones said:
"The Mayor clearly doesn’t ‘respect the right to demonstrate’ as he says, or else he wouldn’t be seeking the legal power to evict legitimate protesters from Parliament Square. His commitment to democracy is laughable – he has launched this action on the day that the words "allowing members of the public to protest peacefully without fear of being criminalised" is in the Queen’s Speech.
"The protest is relatively few people, but they represent many voices. We clearly have a Mayor who puts the tidiness of Parliament Square ahead of ensuring these voices are heard in our democracy".
The community is occupying land owned by the Greater London Authority and has been growing since 1 May when it first took residence. It includes anti-war protesters, climate change activists, communists and anarchists, and some homeless people.
Notes to editors
[1] For more information on the Democracy Village see: http://meltdown.uk.net/election/Democracy_Village.html