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Protect the Protest

37,686 of you called on the Home Secretary to scrap anti-protest laws

Amnesty International UK, Liberty and Greenpeace handed a 200,000 signature-strong petition into the Home Office

Thank you to the tens of thousands of you who took action for our right to protest and demanded that the Home Secretary scrap anti-protest laws in the UK.

The world is grappling with inequality, discrimination and climate change. Protest is more essential than ever to challenge injustice: thank you for taking action.

We know we are more powerful together. That’s why on Wednesday 11 December 2024, we joined Liberty and Greenpeace to do a joint hand in of our petitions to the Home Secretary to scrap anti-protest powers and halt the crackdown on the right to protest in England and Wales.

We went to the Home Office to serenade the Home Secretary to protect our right to protest.

Together, we presented the Home Secretary with 200’000 signatures of people demanding an end to the crackdown on our protest rights.

What can the current UK government do?

We know the world we want to live in: a world where freedom and fairness aren’t concepts, but the lived reality of all. Protests have taken us closer to that reality. We know it isn’t an unrealistic pipe dream.

Here are three things the UK government must do to protect our right to protest:

  • The new UK government needs to repeal anti-protest laws pushed through by the previous government. This includes public order elements of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, as well as the entirety of the Public Order Act 2023 and Serious Disruption Regulations 2023
  • The new government must withdraw anti-protest policy and guidance that disproportionately restricts the right to protest
  • The new government must end the harmful rhetoric being used to stigmatise those who peacefully protest demanding climate action and protection for the human rights of Palestinians.

3 things you can do

Here are three things you can do to continue the fight for our right to protest:

  • Spread the holiday cheer and share our petition hand in

SHARE THE VIDEO

  • Know your rights. If you are planning to protest, it’s important to stay safe and be prepared:

LIBERTY’S PROTEST TIPS

  • Explore our interactive map that exposes the shocking rise in the repression of protesters across the world.

EXPLORE THE MAP

What's been happening?

Previous UK governments led a calculated and intentional crackdown on our freedom of expression, stopping everyone’s ability to hold the powerful to account.

But another path is possible: we know if we come together, we can change course towards a free and fair society. The fight to defend our rights has been relentless and we won't stop.

We have seen:

  • 2023-2024: Repression and racism 

    • Government ministers scapegoated communities - including by stoking up Islamophobia through harmful dog whistle rhetoric - all in an effort to crackdown on our freedom of expression. This takes us all further away from a free and fair society, but it is impacting Muslim communities hardest
    • As hundreds of thousands continue to march for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a halt to arms transfers to Israeli authorities and an end to apartheid and genocide against Palestinians, politicians and government ministers ramped up their anti-protest rhetoric. The previous government proposed further anti-protest measures in the proposed Criminal Justice Bill, while ramping up its racist “Prevent” duty and expanding the definition of extremism
    • The anti-protest crackdown has also reached our courts. In July 2024, climate protesters received record sentences for their civil disobedience. People should never be punished more harshly for protesting than they would for a non-protest equivalent offence.

  • 2023: Public Order Act passed

    • With public confidence in policing at its lowest, police were given even more powers to restrict people’s fundamental right to peaceful protest. The new law expanded use of stop and search powers related to protests, introduced protest banning orders and criminalised locking on
    • Just days later, anti-protest policing during the Coronation weekend showed how dangerous the misuse of these powers really is. The Metropolitan police made several spurious arrests, with heavy-handed anti-protest policing at its crudest, using new powers at their disposal to crackdown on freedom of expression.

  • 2022: Policing Act passed

    • This deeply repressive law placed major new restrictions on our right to protest, while persecuting traveller communities and entrenching racism
    • The law introduced new vague and undefined police and government powers to clamp down on any protests – including protests done by one person. Protests can now be shut down if they're considered too noisy or likely to be a nuisance.

We will not stop fighting until everyone’s right to protest is protected.

We will continue to Protect the Protest.

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While you’re here…

Like you, we are horrified by the violence and the civilian death toll in Gaza, Israel and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territories. We’re calling for an immediate ceasefire by all parties in the occupied Gaza Strip and Israel to prevent further loss of civilian lives. Amnesty International is investigating mass summary killings, indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks, hostage-taking, and siege tactics.

As ever, our mission to protect human rights remains. Please donate today to help expose war crimes and protect human rights. Thank you.

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