China pressured London police to arrest Tiananmen protester, says watchdog
Coming from a free speech country I'm kinda curious about this. In the UK can they arrest you for peacefully protesting? I'm looking at the law the paper cites that he was arrested under[0][1].<p>1) I'm <i>ASTOUNDED</i> that "insulting" was in there from 1986-2014. 2) This is extremely vague and seems like it could be used to arrest any protestor.<p>> (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening [or abusive],<p>> within the hearing or sight of a person likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress thereby.<p>Seriously? Causing people distress is a crime? Distress with words? We're not allowed to make direct threats of violence either, but this seems like a substantially lower bar.<p>So from [1] the lawyer has to argue that the conduct was reasonable? This is extremely subjective too.<p>This just seems weird to me, coming from a country where freedom of speech is so highly regarded (and here it has been a little controversial lately). It just feels undemocratic to me.<p>I understand my neighbors across the pond may not feel that way and I'd be curious about their thoughts. Is this just an abuse of that law? Does that law also feel undemocratic? Other more nuanced position?<p>[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_5_Public_Order_Act_1986" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Section_5_Public_Order_Act_198...</a><p>[1] <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/section/5" rel="nofollow">https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1986/64/section/5</a>