A government which denigrates and abandons human rights safeguards needs to be reminded of the struggles and achievements of the last two centuries in developing a justice system which seeks to protect all on equal terms. It is easy to overlook the progress that has been made, and we must not throw it away.
The long road here
Consider the Peterloo Massacre of 1819, when 17 peaceful citizens, gathered in the centre of Manchester to hear a speech by the leading radical Henry ‘Orator’ Hunt, were killed by soldiers on horseback who attacked them with sabres. Instead of prosecuting the killers, the government prosecuted the organisers of the meeting for conspiracy and unlawful assembly. They were tried, convicted, and imprisoned (see my article ‘Peterloo remembered’, NLJ, 7 December 2018, p22).
After the French Revolution in 1789, pressure for democracy had grown in Britain.
