Seasons of change?

• Roots of the Autumn Uprising: the Extinction Rebellion.
• Legislative framework: the Public Order Act.
• The decision: interpreting s 14 powers.

The common law recognises that the citizen has a right to protest and that such a right is closely entwined with freedom of speech: see, for example, the remarks of Lord Denning in Hubbard v Pitt [1976] QB 142, [1975] 3 All ER 1 [1975] 1 All ER 1056 and the decisions in R v Roberts [2019] 1 WLR 2577, [2018] All ER (D) 34 (Dec) and Redmond-Bate v DPP [2000] HRLR 249, [1999] All ER (D) 864. Since the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998, the citizen has also been able to rely directly upon the Convention rights of freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, as protected by Arts 10 and 11, before domestic courts. Where they have done so, judges have been quick to echo the sentiments of the Strasbourg court that such rights are hallmarks