Interesting perspective from Joshua Rozenberg, a fairly well-known legal commentator in the UK: "The Public Order Act 2023 was passed by parliament exactly a w

Interesting perspective from Joshua Rozenberg, a fairly well-known legal commentator in the UK: "The Public Order Act 2023 was passed by parliament exactly a week ago, on 2 May. Regulations were made that day by a Home Office minister bringing sections 1 and 2 — as well as several other sections — into force a day later, on 3 May. "This is unusual for new criminal offences. A couple of months is usually allowed for the Home Office to issue a circular explaining how the new offence is to be used. Those at risk of committing the new offence — people who carry bicycle locks, for example — can learn how the law has changed and seek legal advice. Police forces have time to train their officers. Police lawyers might regard items that can easily be cut — luggage straps or cable-ties, for example — as not capable of leading to serious disruption. "Only a day’s notice was given on this occasion, presumably so that the new law could be used against anyone intending to disrupt the Coronation. Home Office officials apparently wrote to demonstrators but it is not surprising that the subtleties of the new law did not filter down to front-line police in time." [1] I'm absolutely not a supporter of the current UK government, and I think the met police are pretty incompetent when they're not being corrupt, but the above may partly explain some the weekend's events wrt protest. (Personally I think its a bad law, created for authoritarian purposes, rushed into effect, and incompetently implemented by police who seem only too happy to protect the interests of the state over the freedom of citizens.) [1] https://rozenberg.substack.com/p/police-regret-anti-monarchy-arrests https://rozenberg.substack.com/p/police-regret-anti-monarchy...