Thank you for your ongoing support for the campaign to preserve civic freedoms in Oxford. Over the weekend, whilst engaging in an online dialogue with comedian and activist Mark Thomas (see attached article), Oxford City Council, and, separately in a post made on this petition claimed publicly that they were not seeking to fine destitute people for begging in Oxford, but were merely using the PSPO to 'help' them through the courts. We pointed out that any person who went to court would be hit automatically with a £150 mandatory court charge which has lead to extremely vulnerable people ending up in prison. Now they have had to backtrack from that position by acknowledging that people could be fined/prosecuted under the new measures which also criminalise buskers, pedlars and people riding bikes. We will continue to hold Oxford City Council to account for the way in which they are treating the most vulnerable members of our society and their authoritarian oversight of the public spaces of the city. Kind regards, Jonny Walker Founding director of Keep Streets Live Campaign http://keepstreetslive.com