“Aaron-gate” – Prevent’s latest smearing of legitimate political dissent

Jul 31, 2018 | Protest

A report on tackling ‘hateful extremism’ commissioned in the aftermath of the Manchester Arena attack has been caught up in a barrage of criticism entirely of its authors’ own making, after smearing anti-fracking campaigners and then admitting it...

Police must respect protesters’ right to oppose Trump visit

Jul 12, 2018 | Protest

As large numbers of police officers from around the country are redeployed to respond to demonstrations against President Trump’s visit to the UK on Friday, Netpol is calling on police not to undermine people’s rights to freedom of expression and assembly...

Victory for Netpol in legal challenge over scale of surveillance on anti-fracking campaigners

Jun 11, 2018 | Protest, Rights

In a judgment received today, a tribunal has ruled in favour of Netpol and said that the police cannot rely on safeguarding national security as a reason for refusing to release any information on how often opponents of fracking are referred to a secretive...

Injunctions: A Myth Buster for Anti-Frackers

Jun 7, 2018 | Protest, Rights

GUEST POST Injunctions are scary sounding things, but that’s exactly what they’re meant to be. Fear, rather than actual prosecutions, is the primary means by which injunction orders succeed in shutting down protest. And you can understand why: if a court...

Police are encouraging shale gas industry to go to court to disrupt anti-fracking protests

Jun 6, 2018 | Comment, Protest

Yet another interim injunction has been granted to the fracking industry, this time at a hearing in Manchester last week that sought to prohibit a range of disruptive protest tactics at Cuadrilla’s site at Preston New Road in Lancashire. Once again, this...