Call-out: Help Netpol monitor the impact of new anti-protest laws on our freedom to dissent!

Jun 28, 2022 | Protest

Starting today, and continuing over the next two years, Netpol is asking campaigners around England and Wales to help document, analyse and share the impact of the new Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Act on our freedom to protest. Netpol wants to identify how the...

Anti-nuclear and anti-war protest under threat

Jun 6, 2022 | Protest

Hot on the heels of the April 2022 Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, protests at nuclear weapons establishments and military sites could now be under threat by the proposed National Security Bill, due for a second reading in parliament on 6 June. The National...

Serious Disruption Prevention Orders are the start of a new chapter of repressive police surveillance

May 27, 2022 | Protest, Rights

Like previous government restrictions on an individual’s liberty to ‘protect the public’, Serious Disruption Prevention Orders are the end-point of increasing state repression The inclusion in the government’s new Public Order Bill of new Serious Disruption Prevention...

Police chiefs shift on protest guidance a partial success, but still a missed opportunity

May 26, 2022 | Protest

London – May 31 2020: Black Lives Matter protesters march from Trafalgar Square to US Embassy for George Floyd. PHOTO: Ben Thornley / Shutterstock Netpol’s campaign for greater certainty about the way demonstrations are policed has brought some success, but big...

Guilty pleas in Bristol KTB cases should not detract from police violence defendants faced

May 24, 2022 | Comment, Protest

On Monday 23rd May, Fleur Moody pleaded guilty to affray at Bristol Crown Court. However, Fleur’s guilty plea should not detract from the police violence she faced in Bristol that night. Fleur, a vulnerable young woman, suffering from PTSD and complex...

EXPLAINER: The Public Order Bill 2022

May 17, 2022 | Protest, Rights

Having successfully passed one piece of vague, draconian public order legislation, the government is already embarking on the introduction of another. During the passage of the recently enacted Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act, the government attempted...