Representatives of the Methodist Church, the United Reformed Church and the Baptist Church have signed an open letter supported by 20 UK faith organisations, asking Keir Starmer to review the law in light of the recent police raid on a peaceful gathering at Westminster Quaker Meeting House.
This letter follows a wave of interfaith support following the raid on Westminster Meeting House, including a Meeting for Worship at New Scotland Yard that was attended by 300 people and a letter from Churches Together in England to the Metropolitan Police Commissioner. As a faith organisation, we were deeply concerned to see such a heavy-handed and disproportionate action at a place of worship. The letter expresses how important it is, across the diverse faith traditions represented, that our places of worship can be places of sanctuary and welcome for all who gather there.
It also expresses that this raid was enabled by laws that have been introduced in the last few years and that are being used to suppress nonviolent protest movements. We want the law to underpin an open democratic society rather than being used to silence discussion. We are therefore asking the Prime Minister to do three things:
- affirm his government’s commitment to protecting the right to freedom of expression and assembly
- launch an independent investigation into the raid, including its legal basis and proportionality and publish the findings
- review the laws that made this police raid on a peaceful meeting in a place of worship possible
Full text of letter
Dear Keir Starmer,
We write as representatives of UK faiths to express our concern over the police raid on Westminster Meeting House which took place on the 27th March. During this raid, six people were arrested at the Meeting House for attending a peaceful introductory gathering for the nonviolent action group Youth Demand.
Quaker Meeting Houses are places where Quakers gather for worship; they are also places that Quakers offer for use by many groups, including those who are working to uphold the Quaker testimonies of peace, equality, truth and sustainability. As such, and as with all places of worship, they are intended to be places of sanctuary and welcome for all who gather there. The heavy-handed and disproportionate policing of a peaceful, public meeting has seriously damaged this sense of sanctuary.
We have gathered together as representatives from many different and diverse faith traditions to write this letter. We share the experience of being guided by our faith in how we act in the world. For many of us, this faith guidance leads us to political engagement, discussion of our views with others, and peaceful protest. The right to gather peacefully is a key cornerstone of our democracy, as well as being central to our religious freedoms. That the laws intended to limit and criminalise protest have now been the basis of a police raid on a place of worship is not an unforeseeable side effect; the peaceful expressions of moral conviction that these laws aim to limit are, for many of us, an inextricable part of our faith.
Although entirely in line with existing restrictions on protest, this police raid sets a deeply concerning new precedent. It reflects a growing trend of excessive policing under new laws brought in by the previous government, which are now being enforced and strengthened through the Crime and Policing Bill by the current administration. It illustrates that police powers are being used not just to preserve public order, but to intimidate and suppress nonviolent protest movements, undermining fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly.
As gathered representatives of faith communities, we want to live in a country where the rule of law underpins an open democratic society rather than silencing dissent and discussion. In light of such a clear illustration of how these laws can be used to limit peaceful discussion, we ask this government to:
- affirm its commitment to protecting the right to freedom of expression and assembly
- launch an independent investigation into the raid, including its legal basis and proportionality and publish the findings
- review the laws that made this police raid on a peaceful meeting in a place of worship possible
CC:
Yvette Cooper
Angela Rayner
Lord Wajid Khan