Paul Nowak: Conservative attacks on the right to protest threaten free speech, free assembly and open democracy
‘The threat to protest and the undermining of the right to strike raise questions about the UK’s commitment to open democracy’
‘The threat to protest and the undermining of the right to strike raise questions about the UK’s commitment to open democracy’
We have savage reductions in the right to protest; we have deeply concerning directions of travel for democracy and freedom of speech.
‘The UK is rapidly aligning itself with a host of repressive governments we have previously condemned for the way they crack down on protesters, dissent and fundamental freedoms.’
Green Party peer Jenny Jones gives her account of the parliamentary battles over the Tories’ protest laws
The bill seeks to criminalise effective means of protest and will further entrench racial inequalities in our criminal justice system
Report shows that Policy Exchange, which called for the criminalisation of Extinction Rebellion and is funded by US fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil, influenced government clampdown on protest rights.
‘This latest raft of measures is likely to have a chilling effect on the right to protest in England and Wales.’
Under the proposals – set out in the Queen’s Speech – police forces would be handed sweeping authority to place restrictions on protests and public assembly.
On social media protestors are asserting a different narrative, of police inciting the majority of the violence and protesters largely reacting to it.
This week the government announced its intention to legislate the right to protest out of meaningful existence.