One of the foundational aspects of democracy is the right to protest. People must be able to demonstrate to the powers that be that they are unhappy with either decisions made or intolerable circumstances and to be able to call for those in power to change course. Autocracies tend to ban protests, or heavily circumscribe them, precisely because they are a way by which disenfranchised populations can challenge the power of regimes that have long since dispensed with the ballot box. Yet the right to protest is not absolute, even in a democracy. Finding the line between what is permissible and what is impermissible can be a tricky business, particularly when any degradation of the right to protest can be seen as a canary in the coalmine for democracies in decay.
In Britain the right to protest has been slowly restricted since the dying days of the last Conservative government which introduced the Public Order Act of 2023 in response to the tactics being used by the Just Stop Oil movement as well as Extinction Rebellion. Labour seems to be following suit with new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood poised to give the police new powers to disrupt protests as this BBC news report makes clear.
“Police forces will be granted powers to put conditions on repeat protests, the government has announced, a day after nearly 500 protesters were arrested. Senior officers will be able to consider the “cumulative impact” of previous protests, the Home Office said, which could mean they instruct organisers to hold events elsewhere if a site has seen repeated demonstrations. The Home Secretary told the BBC the move was not a ban on protests but “about restrictions and conditions”.
Protests by their nature are meant to be noisy and disruptive though. Is the slow restriction of what protests can and cannot do justified or not?
On the other hand we have seen more local examples where people have demonstrated that in some situations, the right to protest may need limits.
Justice Minister and Alliance party leader Naomi Long recently endured a rowdy mob turning up at her home in East Belfast. Jayne McCormack writes that…
“Her husband, Belfast Alliance councillor Michael Long, said “about 40 people, some wearing masks, turned up at our house to protest”. It is believed the protest related to the housing of sex offenders in residential areas. In a social media post, Mrs Long said: “It’s bullying and intimidation. It’s threatening and wholly unacceptable.” The police attended the incident and said they would now review footage to “consider if any potential offences have been committed”.
This is clearly wrong and moves from attempting to sway politicians by a demonstration of public sentiment to intimidating the politicians concerned. Politicians from across the political spectrum have united to condemn the actions of the mob but whilst this is an egregious abuse of the right to demonstrate, we as a society still need to determine where the line lies and there is no guarantee we will get it right. What happened in East Belfast was unacceptable, but is the slow degradation of the right to protest in the United Kingdom the right path, or an example of governmental overreach?
Our mod team uses this account to share news and posts. Content here should not be interpreted as Slugger’s editorial position. Slugger welcomes all views and does not take editorial positions on issues.
Discover more from Slugger O'Toole
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
