The New Dark Age

To meaningfully defend the right to protest, we need to say what it is we want.

Fundamentally this is about an end to wilful ambiguity: the public needs to know what citizens should expect and demand from the police when exercising their rights.

Every time politicians and the police talk about ‘recognising’ the right to protest, they take our rights away and then hide behind vagueness and uncertainty about what protest rights mean in practice.

So we have defined the right to protest for them.

A new, comprehensive definition of the right to protest has been developed by Netpol and includes the following eleven key principles: what campaigners collectively expect and demand from the police when we are forced to take action for a better world.

1. Public protests need not only facilitation, but also protection.
2. Public protests need protection based on equality and non-discrimination.
3. Potential disruption is not an automatic excuse for denying protection for protests.
4. The use of civil disobedience and direct action tactics are not to be equated with terrorism and are not an automatic excuse for denying protection for protests.
5. The use of police powers to collectively restrict the right to freedom of protest is justifiable only in exceptional circumstances.
6. Although public assemblies are collective activities, protesters are individually rather than collectively responsible for their actions.
7. Choosing to take part in a public protest is not an invitation to surveillance and denial of privacy.
8. Organisers of public assemblies, not the police, must decide their level of communication and dialogue
9. Independent monitoring of the policing of protests is essential for defending the right to organise and participate in public assemblies
10. Imposing financial burdens on organisers restricts the right to freedom of protest
11. The police have a particular duty to protect the rights of vulnerable or disabled people wishing to exercise their rights.

If you are part of a group or organisation, you can join Black Lives Matter, War on Want, Palestine Solidarity Campaign and many others by endorsing the Definition. Fill in this form to add your group to the list.