There has never been any allegations by police that protesters are blocking the road or harassing the public, yet the council's tourism officers introduced a policy to remove protesters and confine them to a "pen" away from the zoo so that they couldn't approach the public. Labour councillors opposed the plan and there have been two heated debates at Scrutiny Committee. Councillors have called the policy a disgrace, saying it is a breach of rights to protest and has implications for all protests in the area. The Council has failed to justify why it wants to remove protesters and repeatedly refuses to state what powers it has to do so.
Liberty have now got involved, and has advised protesters to threaten a Judicial Review as they believe it is a breach of the Human Rights Act's principals of freedom of association and expression.
A final decision is due to be made soon but we expect a compromise situation where protesters will still be moved but not "penned-in". The protesters intend to continue standing where they always do and will take court action against the Council and any officials who try to move them.
Sefton Council has received over 1,000 complaints from zoo visitors about the poor conditions at the zoo yet fails to do anything about it, instead they are trying to hide their embarrassment by hassling innocent protesters.
Southport Zoo Action ([email protected])
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