
Britain’s Long Fight Over the Right to Protest
The Police Crackdown Bill is a threat to our right to protest, but that right has been contested for centuries – and from Peterloo to Cable Street, it has often been defended by breaking the law.
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Tom Banbury is a graduate student in the History Department at Durham University, studying European and East Asian Environmental history. He writes on history, environmentalism, and ecological policy.
The Police Crackdown Bill is a threat to our right to protest, but that right has been contested for centuries – and from Peterloo to Cable Street, it has often been defended by breaking the law.
The Tory government’s plan to make trespass a criminal offence is part of a centuries-old tradition: using the law to protect wealthy landowners at the expense of our right to roam.