Arrests of Chinese Protesters Debate

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Department: Ministry of Justice

Arrests of Chinese Protesters

Peter Bone Excerpts
Monday 26th October 2015

(8 years, 6 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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John Bercow Portrait Mr Speaker
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Order. What the Minister chooses to say or not to say is a matter for him. Equally, other Members can raise these matters, with the agreement of the Chair and if appropriate, whenever and how often they wish. These matters will run and run, so colleagues must not worry about that.

Peter Bone Portrait Mr Peter Bone (Wellingborough) (Con)
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This seems to be extraordinary. If only three people were arrested when a lot of people were wanting to protest, the police must have allowed protest. If there were a complaint about 300 people being arrested, I would understand the problem, but not when there were only three.

Mike Penning Portrait Mike Penning
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As I said in my statement, a lot of preparation work was done to ensure that people had the right to protest peaceably, as the law stipulates. But if the police made a decision to arrest—and they have made that decision—that is an operational matter and not a matter for the Police Minister to comment on.