Speakers Corner in Hyde Park London, has existed for more than 250 years, and has had crowds gathering there every Sunday.  Anyone has always been able to turn up, speak on any subject of their choice, heckle or just listen.  George Orwell once described the Corner as “one of the minor wonders of the world”.

In recent years the range of speakers has reduced significantly and religion, increasingly just Islam, has become the main subject.  This has more recently been accompanied by an increase in violence and intimidation and attempts to control who comes to the Corner and what they are permitted to say.  Anyone who dares to challenge, dispute or ridicule the beliefs of those seeking to dominate have been faced with a barrage of aggression,  both verbal and frequently physical.  At best this includes accusations of racism and hate preaching and at worst physical threats and intimidation and actual physical violence including being spat at, pushed off ladders, punched, kicked, chased out the park and in the worst cases death threats resulting in the issuing of Osman warnings by the Police.

We must protect the rich heritage of Speakers Corner as the true home of free speech and halt this power grab and overthrow by religious zealots, by immediately stopping all thuggery and intimidation at the Corner.   A zero tolerance approach must be implemented for all forms of violence and intimidation.