No Coercion - July 2022

 

A walk, a performance, a noisy protest? On 20th November 1887, Alfred Linnell was knocked down by a police horse at a protest in Trafalgar Square and subsequently died. A procession of protest and mourning was arranged for his funeral for which William Morris wrote A Death Song, set to music by Malcolm Lawson. On 28th June 2022 the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act came into force and one of its provisions extending the area around parliament where protest is not permitted was put into force immediately to seize amplification equipment used by anti-Brexit protester Steve Bray. Other provisions within this act give UK police forces broad authority to place restrictions on protests and public assembly.

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Music:

A Death Song arranged for SATB by Stuart Vezey and performed by Fortismere Community Choir, musical director Marvin Perrott.

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Setting of William Morris's The Message of the March Wind, composed and performed by Tansy Spinks.

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