The UK is a World Leader in Stomping Peaceful Protest

Where does this path lead – and is this really the nation we want to be?

As I approached the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday afternoon, weaving through students, tourists, and onlookers, one thing stood out immediately: the sheer number of high-vis uniforms. Police officers were everywhere.

It seemed like a disproportionate response. The protesters – gathered in solidarity with the 16 Just Stop Oil activists appealing their sentences (which amount to a combined 41 years in jail) inside the court – weren’t being noisy or blocking any roads. They were simply sitting in silence.

These weren’t violent radicals, but ordinary people of all ages: grandparents and small children, doctors, educators, scientists. Where were the "dangerous hate-mongers and extremists" that Suella Braverman, and now Yvette Cooper, had warned us about?

I spoke to several people – attendees, onlookers, and organisers alike – and their message was clear: this was a peaceful protest against the judicial crackdown on political demonstrations. Many said they didn’t want to be here. They weren’t activists by choice. They were there because they felt they had no democratic voice, no one to represent them in Parliament.

There’s a striking dichotomy at play here. The grievances of right-wing protestors have shaped Parliamentary debates for years, fueling relentless political discourse on immigration, British identity, “wokeism,” and multiculturalism. Their concerns are consistently amplified by Badenoch’s Conservatives and Farage’s Reform UK.

Yet climate activists, anti-war demonstrators, and those protesting the economic model driving environmental collapse have no such influence. The issues they raise aren’t the focus of the political agenda – unless it's to criminalise their efforts.

For all the noise about “listening to the people,” Keir Starmer’s Labour is increasingly deaf to the voices of environmentally-minded campaigners. Look no further than the much-protested Heathrow airport expansion or Starmer’s approval of the Rosebank oilfield, which was later ruled unlawful by the courts.

These protestors are people failed by the democratic process. Their protests aren’t acts of disruption for disruption’s sake. They’re acts of desperation in a system that refuses to hear them.

The Government’s Response? Repression

The Conservative government may have been consigned to the electoral dustbin on July 4th 2024, but the Labour government’s approach to protests remains eerily familiar. Starmer, himself a former human rights lawyer, has so far failed to differentiate his government’s approach to handling environmental and anti-war protestors from that of Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, or Rishi Sunak.

A prime example: In May 2024, the human rights group Liberty won a legal challenge against the Home Office. The High Court ruled that Suella Braverman unlawfully used “King Henry VIII powers” to enact legislation criminalising peaceful protests—lowering the threshold for police intervention. Braverman appealed the ruling. When Labour took office, Yvette Cooper could have dropped the matter but chose to continue that appeal.

This isn’t an isolated case. Starmer’s government has quietly upheld some of the most draconian policies of the Conservative era. The Policing Act and Public Order Act, which have led to a surge in arrests and prison sentences for climate activists, remain firmly in place. These laws, originally seen as an attempt to target climate groups, are part of a wider campaign to suppress dissent.

Britain: A Global Leader in Criminalising Protest

This is no longer about one political party. The systemic erosion of protest rights in Britain is now a defining feature of its broken democracy. A global study found that UK police arrest climate activists at three times the global average rate. Why?

One answer lies in corporate influence over government policy. While Starmer differs from his predecessor, Rishi Sunak, on rhetoric, he still swims in the same waters, where lobbyists and right-wing think tanks hold sway over policy decisions.

Take Lord Walney, Starmer’s so-called “independent adviser” on extremism. In reality, he’s a paid lobbyist for fossil fuel companies and arms manufacturers. Since his report was published, sentencing for climate and anti-war protestors has skyrocketed.

Investigations by OpenDemocracy and DeSmog have exposed the role of right-wing think tanks in shaping Britain’s original protest laws – laws that the Labour government is now actively upholding.

Democracy, Deafened

The scene outside the Royal Courts of Justice yesterday wasn’t one of chaos or aggression. It was one of quiet resolve. And yet, it was met with police lines, surveillance, and intimidation – as though the simple act of protest were itself a crime.

This isn’t just about one protest, one appeal, or one government. The UK is facing a wider crisis – one in which those who challenge power are branded criminals while those who uphold the status quo are rewarded with policy influence.

For all the talk of democracy, for all the rhetoric about Britain’s commitment to freedom of expression, the reality is starkly different.

• Those who demand climate action are met with riot vans and mass arrests.

• Those who call for an end to human rights abuses in Gaza are branded extremists.

• Those who protest government policy are imprisoned under vague, sweeping laws.

Meanwhile, the grievances of right-wing agitators are amplified in Parliament and our right-wing press, their demands shaping government priorities. The disparity is undeniable.

The people who gathered outside the courts yesterday weren’t just protesting government policies. They were protesting a democratic system that has failed them. A system that silences dissent rather than listens. That protects donors’ interests over the climate. That criminalises disruption while ignoring the destruction it protests.

And if Britain continues down this path, the question isn’t just what happens to the right to protest – it’s what happens to democracy itself?