The New Dark Age

PRESS RELEASE

A new report authored by the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) says the aggressive police use of new anti-protest laws, coupled with a growing portrayal of protesters as alleged threats to democracy rather than a vital part of public participation, has grown so routine and so severe that it now amounts to state repression.

Netpol, which has supported the rights of frontline protest groups since 2009, has called for urgent action to reverse this trend, which was amplified vigorously by the previous Conservative government but continues unabated under Labour.

The report’s author and Netpol’s Campaigns Coordinator Kevin Blowe said:

“Throughout 2024, every week there was a new and more confrontational restriction on the right to protest, another deeply toxic attack on the legitimacy of protest demands or a renewed attempt to demonise and smear particular protest groups.  It felt relentless.

Often before Netpol had time to brief the groups we work with on the latest development, we would hear another story of a further crackdown.  Campaigners have told us that these unrelenting attacks on the right to protest left them feeling unsure whether attending a demonstration was too risky or whether they might suddenly face arbitrary arrest”.

“It wasn’t until we decided to step back, document and analyse everything that happened last year that we were able to understand the scale of measures to deter, disrupt, punish or otherwise control individual protesters, campaign groups and entire social movements. “

“What we have seen – and what we have heard from protesters and organisers – is the severity of the crackdown on the right to protest finally tipping over into state repression. We urgently call on protest groups and policy campaigners to push back against the drift towards repression before it grows even worse”.

The first “State of Protest” report looks at events between January and December 2024. This covers the ongoing demonstrations against the government’s policy towards Israel, the jailing of climate campaigners, the culture wars against protest groups in advance of the general election and the race riots in August last year, the worst public order challenge for the police in over a decade.

Netpol and the Article 11 Trust, which funded the report, plan to produce an annual assessment of the state of protest rights, but the title of their first report – “This is Repression” – reflects the severity of the circumstances campaigners now face.  It accuses the government and the police of implementing “an alarming package of state-supported measures designed to impose social control on protests on a scale reminiscent of the ‘war on terror’ two decades ago”.

The report warns that in 2025, the imminent use of new Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (anti-protest banning orders designed to target key individuals) is likely to lead to even more oppressive and intrusive surveillance of political views that have an impact far beyond those who are immediately targeted.

Join the launch on 19 March

Netpol will host a lunchtime webinar on 19 March 2025 from 13.00-13.45 with Netpol’s Campaigns Coordinator Kevin Blowe, Palestine Action co-founder Huda Ammori, Phil Ball who was arrested last summer on conspiracy charges at a huge North Yorkshire Police operation at the Drax power station; and Nancy from the legal team at Climate Action Support Pathway (CASP), who offer legal support to those taking action on the climate emergency.

Registration to attend on Zoom is available here.

“This is Repression – the State of Protest in 2024” will be published online on Wednesday 19 March at 12.00 GMT.