Rights groups fear government responses to protest becoming more authoritarian worldwide

Joanne HarrisFriday 9 December 2022

Frustrated by lack of government action over issues including the climate crisis, the cost of living and Covid-19, individuals and groups around the world have been standing up and making their voices heard. But many protests are being met with ever-sterner resistance on the part of politicians and police.

The UK’s response to continued protests was to introduce the Public Order Bill in May 2022, which has been progressing through Parliament. Previous legislation seeking to limit the right to protest was watered down significantly by the House of Lords. The Public Order Bill has however passed its second reading in the House of Lords with minimal amendments – despite an outcry by human rights groups.

‘The whole point of protests is to disrupt; it’s meaningless if it doesn’t disrupt or have an impact. It’s a hallmark of a civilised democracy’, says Mark Stephens CBE, Co-Chair of the IBA’s Human Rights Institute. He adds that trying to stamp down on protests is ‘a step on the road to totalitarianism. It’s likely not to solve the problem but exacerbate it’.

Speaking specifically about ‘disruptive actions from a small minority of protesters’, a spokesperson for the UK Home Office told Global Insight that ‘The right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy, but the kind of activity we’ve seen recently is a criminal operation, and the selfish minority who delay our emergency services from their life saving duties and drain police resources must face proper penalties’.

‘The police need, and have requested, strengthened powers so they can tackle this rise in guerrilla protest tactics, and the Public Order Bill will support police to take an even more proactive approach to prevent chaos before it ensues’, added the spokesperson.

Lawyers point out that UK law already gives police powers to arrest protestors who commit crimes in the course of protest, for example causing criminal damage. Wainwright says the focus of lobbying has turned to trying to remove some of the more harmful provisions of the Public Order Bill. ‘Otherwise I would have thought, unless there’s a general election, there’s a good chance that certainly most of it will become law’, he says.

There’s a growing concern that governments are becoming more authoritarian in the way they handle protest movements. The UK’s approach places it in-line with several other countries in Europe and around the world that Kirchberger says are trying to impose more restrictive laws and that are encouraging tougher policing of protests and assembly. She says the Public Order Bill mirrors similar public order provisions in many of the countries considered by the UK to be overly repressive. The rise to power of Poland’s Law and Justice Party sparked protests that were reportedly met with heavy-handed policing, surveillance and restriction of protests, for example.

French efforts to clamp down on protests, including the use of rubber bullets and tear gas by police and bail conditions imposed to prevent participation in protests, have intensified since the emergence of the mass ‘gilets jaunes’ or yellow vest movement, which was particularly active in 2018 but which has continued into 2022. Its members have protested against tax increases, among other matters.

Those bans have extended to completely peaceful protests. For example, in February a group of Muslim women, known as ‘les Hijabeuses’, had planned to protest against a ban on the wearing of headscarves in competitive football matches by playing the sport in front of France’s National Assembly. The police banned the action, but an administrative court overturned the ban, saying it infringed the women’s right to protest – though the reversal came too late for the protest to take place. ‘It is really concerning to see how states perceive and also push the narrative of people protesting as disruptors, people who are not conforming, against the backdrop of their international human rights obligations that they should facilitate protests’, says Kirchberger.

The French government had not responded to Global Insight’s request for comment at the time of publication.

Amnesty International is beginning a research programme that’ll map out the current state of play on freedom of assembly in 23 European countries. It’ll enable the group to target their future work on the most pressing issues, such as the relaxation of restrictive laws. ‘One of the issues that has come up a lot already is that protestors are portrayed by certain politicians and also the media as disruptors, people making trouble. We would like to counter this narrative’, Kirchberger explains.

‘Protests are supposed to get people’s attention. It can in some instances go too far but that’s a matter for a jury to decide’, Wainwright adds. ‘The more that the government shut down the ability to protest effectively the more dramatic protestors’ response will be.’

Although lobbyists against laws, such as the UK’s Public Order Bill, are genuinely concerned that it’ll discourage some peaceful protests, Kirchberger says there’s a positive angle to the increased focus and coverage of protests. ‘While the past few years have really shown more restrictions and more interference with the right to public assembly, they have also shown the power of movements and the power of what people can achieve when they come together’, she explains. ‘This power of mobilisation and activism can be quite optimistic and empowering and really shows that it’s a right not to be forgotten about.’

Image credit: ink drop/AdobeStock.com