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Parliament Square is a square at
the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in the City of
Westminster in central London. Laid out in the 19th century, it
features a large open green area in the centre with trees to its
west, and it contains twelve statues of statesmen and other
notable individuals.
As well as being one of London's main tourist attractions, it is
also the place where many demonstrations and protests have been
held. The square is overlooked by various official buildings:
legislature to the east (in the Houses of Parliament), executive
offices to the north (on Whitehall), the judiciary to the west
(the Supreme Court), and the church to the south (with
Westminster Abbey).
Buildings looking upon the square include the churches
Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's, Westminster, the Middlesex
Guildhall which is the seat of the Supreme Court of the United
Kingdom, Government Offices Great George Street serving HM
Treasury and HM Revenue and Customs, and Portcullis House.
Roads that branch off the Parliament Square are St Margaret
Street (towards Millbank), Broad Sanctuary (towards Victoria
Street), Great George Street (towards Birdcage Walk), Parliament
Street (leading into Whitehall) and Bridge Street (leading onto
Westminster Bridge).
Parliament Square was laid out in 1868 in order to open up the
space around the Palace of Westminster and improve traffic flow,
and featured London's first traffic signals. A substantial
amount of property had to be cleared from the site. The
architect responsible was Sir Charles Barry. Its original
features included the Buxton Memorial Fountain, which was
removed in 1949 and placed in its present position in nearby
Victoria Tower Gardens in 1957. In 1950 the square was
redesigned by George Grey Wornum. The central garden of the
square was transferred from the Parliamentary Estate to the
control of the Greater London Authority by the Greater London
Authority Act 1999. It has responsibility to light, cleanse,
water, pave, and repair the garden, and has powers to make
bylaws for the garden.
The east side of the square, lying opposite one of the key
entrances to the Palace of Westminster, has historically been a
common site of protest against government action or inaction. On
May Day 2000 the square was transformed into a giant allotment
by a Reclaim the Streets guerrilla gardening action. Most
recently, Brian Haw staged a continual protest there for several
years, campaigning against British and American action in Iraq.
Starting on 2 June 2001, Haw left his post only once, on 10 May
2004 – and then because he had been arrested on the charge of
failing to leave the area during a security alert, and returned
the following day when he was released. The disruption that
Haw's protest is alleged to have caused led Parliament to insert
a clause into the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005
making it illegal to have protests in Parliament Square (or,
indeed, in a large area reaching roughly half a mile in all
directions) without first seeking the permission of the
Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
The provisions of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act
relating to Parliament Square were repealed by the Police Reform
and Social Responsibility Act 2011, which provides for a
different regime of "prohibited activities".
As well as sparking a great deal of protest from various groups
on the grounds of infringement of civil liberties including the
European Convention on Human Rights, the Act was initially
unsuccessful in accomplishing its goals: Brian Haw was held to
be exempt from needing authorisation in a High Court ruling, as
his protest had started before the Act came into effect (though
any new protests would be covered); Haw remained in Parliament
Square. Later, the Court of Appeal overturned this ruling,
forcing Haw to apply for police authorisation to continue his
protest.
The square is home to twelve statues of British, Commonwealth
and foreign political figures.
The Parliament Square Peace Campaign was a peace campaign
started by Brian Haw in 2001 and carried on by Barbara Tucker
until 2013.
In May 2010, a peace camp known as Democracy Village was set up
on the square to protest (initially) against the British
government's involvement in invasions in the Middle East, which
became an eclectic movement encompassing left-wing causes and
anti-globalisation protests.
The Mayor of London Boris Johnson appealed to the courts to have
them removed and, after demonstrators lost an appeal in July
2010, Lord Neuberger ruled that the protesters camping on the
square should be evicted. The final tents were removed in
January 2012.
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