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Politics, policing & bans on public processions

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12 January 2024 / Neil Parpworth
Issue: 8054 / Categories: Features , Public
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Neil Parpworth reflects on the former Home Secretary’s controversial conduct in relation to the policing of processions
  • Covers the law relating to the banning of public processions.
  • Looks at events leading up to the demonstrations on 11-12 November 2023 (weekend of Armistice Day) and the sacking of the then Home Secretary, Suella Braverman.

The sacking of Suella Braverman as Home Secretary (HS) understandably attracted considerable media attention, although perhaps not as much as did the return to the cabinet of the former PM, David (now Lord) Cameron. In the lead up to her departure, Braverman made clear her views on a number of controversial matters, including the way in which the Metropolitan Police handle public processions. In a comment published in The Times on 9 November 2023 under the heading ‘Police must be even-handed with protests’, the former HS rightly observed that ‘the right to protest is a cornerstone of democracy’. Indeed, her comment echoed what has been said previously in domestic and Strasbourg judgments: see, for example, R

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