Your Rights to Protest or Demonstrate

By: Liz Lennox - Updated: 23 Aug 2014 | *Discuss

 

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You don’t need to look too far back in your memory, or the archives of the newspapers, to see that many violent protests (such as the Poll Tax Riots) make the headlines for entirely the wrong reasons. The right to protest peacefully is a fundamental part of our society. We tend to forget that many of the human rights we cherish today are a direct result of protests by ordinary people who were prepared to go onto the streets to make their feelings known.

Peaceful Protests

The most famous in my mind is the Suffragette Movement in England during the Victorian period. We cannot forget that they brought about the right for women to vote – without them we may still be living in a patriarchal society.

Pressure groups such as Liberty, Amnesty International and the British Institute of Human Rights have campaigned peacefully to ensure that the human rights we now enjoy made it onto the law books. Some groups have even managed to erase large parts of the debt placed on third world countries in a bid to ease suffering. So we can see that home-grown peaceful protest groups are instrumental in bringing about the recognition of international human rights and international freedom.

The Human Rights Act

Essentially the Act means that the Government, or any public authority, cannot stop you from organising or taking part in a public protest, provided that the there is no harm to other people or property. This includes the person, group or thing you are protesting against, the Police or any rival protestors.

What is Non-Violent Direct Action?

• Truck-drivers organising, and getting authority for, a blockade to protest against fuel prices.
• You could organise a ‘sit-in’ – this is a protest where all of those involved sit on the floor in a prescribed location.
• You could get permission from your council to have a stall in your town centre, to tell people about the cause you are fighting for and gain valuable support.

In addition to this you could organise a petition to be sent to Parliament or arrange a protest march. Many of the things you could do will require the consent of your local authority to go ahead but they cannot withhold consent just because they don’t want you to speak out.

So the Police Can’t Stop Us?

They can also stop you if they think you would become a target for terrorism or if they believe that what you are protesting for is against the larger public interest or could incite racial hatred.

In this way you have the freedom to protest but the community has the right to freedom from danger and discrimination while you are doing so. As long you make sure that all participants have the same peaceful event in mind then there is no reason that you should not make your feelings known.

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