To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if she will commission research on the effects on the public of the closure of Parliament Square and surrounding roads by demonstrators on 20 April 2009; and if she will make a statement. (274028)

The decision to close roads around Parliament Square is an operational one for the police. Clearly any demonstration has the ability to cause disruption and inconvenience to those going about their lawful business and police tactics will be to minimise such disruption while facilitating the rights of protestors to protest lawfully.