Silent but not subdued: Quakers hold vigil at Scotland Yard

Silent Quaker vigil outside New Scotland Yard - Image by Michael Preston

A silent Quaker Meeting was held outside New Scotland Yard on Thursday, 3 April, to bear witness to the police raid on Westminster Meeting House last week.

Hundreds of Quakers, politicians and others stood in silence for 40 minutes as traffic rattled past on busy Victoria Embankment, with 25 other silent meetings held nationwide and online.

The raid, carried out by Metropolitan Police officers, involved breaking into a place of worship to arrest six people discussing climate action and peace in Gaza.

The move sparked widespread criticism, with constituents expressing concerns about heavy-handed policing to their MPs.

On Monday, MP Luke Taylor raised the issue during urgent questions in the House of Commons, while Home Secretary Yvette Cooper addressed it on BBC television the previous day. Both responses framed the raid as an operational matter for the Met Police.

But, along with many others, Quakers have been calling for the repeal of the Public Order Act 2023 and parts of the Police, Crime, Sentencing & Courts Act 2022 since they were passed.

Under these new laws the right to protest has been severely restricted. Vague and sweeping definitions mean that even discussing peaceful protest can be criminalized.

Concerns over the police's approach have spanned the political spectrum from Cities of London and Westminster MP Rachel Blake, Labour, to former Conservative Party minister, Jacob Rees-Mogg.

Blake has formally requested information from the Met on their policy regarding entering places of worship.

And Rees-Mogg told the Church Times on Monday: "There has long been a tradition in this country of taking a view that religious spaces should not be invaded by the forces of law and order unless absolutely necessary."

Green MPs Carla Denyer, Ellie Chowns and Sian Berry, along with Baroness Jenny Jones and London Assembly members Zack Polanski and Zoe Garbett attended the open-air meeting.

Siobhán Haire, deputy recording clerk for Quakers in Britain, said: "We've been warning since these laws were proposed that this is about the kind of country, the kind of world, we want to live in.

"Quakers believe that all people are equal, and for that to be a lived reality, we need laws that enable participation rather than suppress it."