Submitted by AWL on 17 November, 2020 - 3:39
The civil rights group Liberty has reported that in the legislation for the new lockdown (5 November to 2 December), the Tories have quietly deleted the exception previously made, in the ban on public gatherings, for political protests done with due care.
On 6 November, some 200 people were arrested on an anti-lockdown demonstration in London.
The Netherlands, for example, explicitly makes political protests the one high-profile exception to its second-lockdown ban on public gatherings. The right to protest (with due care) is an essential service.
However, the government has conceded on picket lines. And Liberty has launched a legal case against the Metropolitan Police over its banning of a 5 September trans rights protest.
