Protest busk to save Oxford's Street Culture

Don't forget today is decision day on the city centre PSPO!

There will be a busking-centred (though anyone can - and should - join!) protest from 3pm, starting on Cornmarket and moving towards the Town Hall at 4:30, where it will be joined by the homeless charities saying "Don't Hide the Homeless!" ).

Labour-led Oxford City Council will hold a meeting on June 11th to decide whether to go ahead with their plans to make 'noncompliant' busking* a criminal offence punishable by fines of up to £1000, alongside pavement art, riding bikes on the wrong streets, and 'noncompliant' peddling.

Under Oxford Council's plans it will technically be a criminal offence to busk without smiling, hence our expressions in this photo are actually an act of civil disobedience!

These plans are a clear attack on cultural freedoms and the use of public space in the city of Oxford and so we will be protesting as the Labour politicians arrive at the Town Hall and asking them to think again.

We will begin our protest by gathering outside HSBC on Cornmarket Street from 3pm and practising some communal songs of love and resistance (Talking 'Bout A Revolution by Tracy Chapman and Imagine by John Lennon have already been discussed as possible numbers).

At 4:30 we will move outside the Town Hall to be a highly visible and audible presence as the politicians arrive. We will sing. We will dance. We will be merry. We will expose to ridicule the idea that you can make music and art into a criminal offence.

So, bring your instruments, invite your friends, and join us!