“The policing of protest has been conducted in a routinely violent way for more than four decades”
- Authors: Matt Foot and Morag Livingstone
- Publisher: Verso
- ISBN: 9781839762499
- RRP: £18.99
The government will always defend the right to protest,’ said Priti Patel to the virtual Conservative party conference in 2020. ‘That right is a fundamental pillar of our democracy, but the hooliganism and thuggery we have seen is not. It is indefensible.’ In other words, the previous home secretary would defend the right so long as it didn’t hold up the traffic or upset the law-abiding majority.
Her Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, described by Liberal Democrat peer and deputy assistant commissioner of the Met Police Brian Paddick as ‘draconian and anti-democratic’, is now on the statue books, enabling the police to impose start and finish times for protests, as well as maximum noise levels.
Policing by consent a myth?
Never has our supposedly cherished right to protest
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