The news that Royal Parks have told the Stop the War Coalition, CND and the British Muslim Initiative that they cannot assemble for an anti-war demonstration at Speakers' Corner is cause for concern. Speakers' Corner in Hyde Park is a symbol of free speech in Britain and the fact the organisers say that the Royal Parks authority originally denied permission because it feared that visitors to the Winter Wonderland event would be obstructed makes the decision slightly more troubling.

The chief executive of Royal Parks, Mark Camley, subsequently wrote to the Guardian to suggest that the paved area is too small to accommodate the demonstration. As Kate Hudson of CND and others ask: "How can this be? Our demonstrations have assembled here at least five times in the last decade."

If what the organisers say is right, then it appears Winter Wonderland is a priority for the revenue-hungry Royal Parks and this apparently trumps a 150-year-old tradition. Speakers' Corner has recently been titivated to look more like a garden and it must be a concern that this sacred spot will be lost to us because of a bunch of commercially minded, gentrifying bureaucrats and some simpering talk about the kiddies' Christmas outing.

Despite the general misunderstanding about Speakers' Corner, there are no special rights that attach to the area: you have to stay within the law and if you were to make a speech about the chief executive of the Royal Parks you must ensure that it isn't defamatory, whatever temptations might exist. Yet it remains a significant physical embodiment of free speech and free assembly in Britain and that is where its importance lies.

Camley has suggested that the demonstration can be held at another site in the park and has offered to close the road to accommodate the crowds, but Hudson and co are right when they say we should not relinquish Speakers' Corner as a traditional assembly point, particularly at a moment when we need constantly to assert the freedoms that it symbolises.

I would venture that Speakers' Corner belongs to the British people, not Camley or the Royal Parks, and that anyone who wishes to attend next Saturday's demonstration makes a point of at least passing through Speakers' Corner and yelling some good-natured insults at Camley and the Royal Parks.