Not a Blank Piece of Paper

Not a Blank Piece of Paper

Tony Jolley 17/09/2022    

“Rest in Peace, Liz”.

Would saying that get me arrested in the UK

During period of the Lying-in-State

Of Queen Elizabeth 2^nd?

The Police might read my ‘Liz’

As all too unacceptably familiar

At a time when the vast majority

Is looking for ultimate respect

Of the recent Head of the Monarchy.

In Oxford, one Symon Hill

On his way home from the Sunday Service,

Stopped to listen to

King Charles III’s Accession Proclamation.

At the point Charles was declared:

“Our only lawful & rightful Liege Lord”

Mr. Hill called out: “Who elected him!”

Without much further ado

He was handcuffed

And bundled into a Police van.

None of the officers present

Could answer his one critical question:

‘Just what law am I being arrested under’?

At the Police Station.

At the point of being de-arrested,

He was told the arrest had been under:

The 2022 Police, Crime, Sentencing

And Courts Act, under Section 78 thereof

It is an offence to cause nuisance

By ‘serious annoyance’.

Find someone who is offended

And that’s it: you’re arrested!

What happened to ‘Free Speech’

In a ‘Free Country’?

Paul Powlesland, a lawyer,

Went to Parliament Square

And held aloft a blank sheet of paper

Only to be put on notice by a copper

That he’d better not write:

‘Not my King’ on it or risk arrest

Under the Public Order Act.

Picking up on this, people have started

A ‘This is not a Blank Piece of Paper’ protest:

Everyone knows what they mean…

But they daren’t say or write it.

Sound familiar?  It should.

It’s the getting to thicker end

Of the Totalitarian State ‘wedge’:

Russia.

China.

…. Britain…..