MADRID, April 27 (EUROPEAN PRESS) –

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, described as “alarming” the Public Order Act which was approved on Wednesday in the UK House of Commons and which, among other issues, gives Police new powers to disperse protesters without waiting incident. .

For Turk, “the new law imposes serious and unjustified restrictions” on basic freedoms such as expression, assembly and association. These limits are “neither necessary nor proportionate to achieve the legitimate goals claimed by International Law,” Turk warned.

In this regard, he recalled this Thursday in a statement that British security forces could now act “against violent or disruptive demonstrations”, so the reforms, which NGOs such as Amnesty International have also questioned, would be “unnecessary”, in the context precisely marked by a rebound in environmental mobilization.

According to the new law, the Police will have more margin to clear the streets in the event of a blockade, for example. The High Commissioner suspects that courts can prohibit citizens from going to certain places at certain times and that control measures can be put in place to verify that the orders were actually complied with.

The United Nations believes that the text may not even comply with the obligations that the UK has signed up to at the international level in terms of human rights. “It is deeply worrying that the law extends the Police’s powers to stop and search individuals, even without suspicion, defines new crimes in such a vague way and imposes unnecessary and disproportionate sanctions on persons who organize or participate in peaceful protests,” he said. .Turkey.

Having said that, he has pointed out that although the government is sovereign in terms of avoiding possible incidents in demonstrations, what is at stake in this case is respect for basic rights and freedoms, hence he urged Executive Rishi Sunak to repeal the law. law “as soon as possible”.