“We don’t use rubber bullets in the UK, we don’t know what they are”

Jun 11, 2020 | Comment

PHOTO: Stephen Reel GUEST POST Maev McDaid and Brian Christopher are Irish migrants from Derry living in London. Yesterday, Victoria Derbyshire said, “we don’t use rubber bullets in the UK, we don’t know what they are”. Derbyshire, it seems, is unaware there are...

Netpol calls for restrictions to police powers and a strict time-limit on ‘draconian’ Coronavirus Bill

Mar 19, 2020 | Comment, Rights

PHOTO: Brian A Jackson | Shutterstock PRESS STATEMENT ON THE GOVERNMENT’S NEW CORONAVIRUS BILL While everyone is currently very anxious about the future, it is important that any emergency response the government plans to adopt and implement to contain the...

Police restrictions on protests were not just unlawful but a breach of human rights

Dec 2, 2019 | Comment, Protest

PHOTO: Splento In early November, the High Court ruled that the use of police powers to severely limit protests by Extinction Rebellion were unlawful. The Metropolitan Police claimed this was “made with good intent “. As part of our recent report...

Climate strikes: police and schools must positively respect children’s right to protest

Sep 19, 2019 | Comment, Protest

PHOTO: Flickr This Friday, tens of thousands of young people will take part in the Global Climate Strike, demanding immediate action to address the global climate crisis. Students who have not been granted permission by their headteachers to participate may find their...

Netpol condemns calls for expanding surveillance on “far left, anarchist and environmentalist” groups

Jul 17, 2019 | Comment, Domestic Extremism, Protest

PHOTO: Julia Hawkins on Flickr The report published today by conservative think-tank Policy Exchange, attacking campaigners from Extinction Rebellion, is a direct call for expanding surveillance on “far left, anarchist and environmentalist extremism”. The report’s...

A War on Dissent?

Oct 31, 2018 | Comment, Domestic Extremism, Protest

This essay by Netpol was first published by the Transnational Institute and ROAR Magazine in October 2018. An accompanying short film is available here. Writing in 2016, Netpol observed that the government and the police in Britain are in a “permanent state of war”...