This week on In Solidarity, we’re in discussion with openDemocracy’s senior investigative reporter and feminist activist, Sian Norris. Sian joins us on the podcast to reveal how recent laws are quietly dismantling the right to protest in the UK.

Drawing on six months of in-depth reporting, Sian breaks down the true impact of the Public Order Act 2023 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022. These laws allow protests to be stopped before they even begin, based on little more than suspicion.

What does this mean for democracy, and who is being targeted? From activists to everyday citizens, no one is exempt. This is a must-listen for anyone concerned about the increasingly authoritarian political climate in the UK — and around the world.

https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/conservative-labour-protest-ban-climate-gaza-just-stop-oil-extinction-rebellion-black-lives-matter/

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In Solidarity is openDemocracy’s podcast about people, power, and politics.Support the show by visiting openDemocracy.net/donate.

Credits:

Presented by Carla Abreu

Edited and produced by James Battershill, Ayodeji Rotinwa & Carla Abreu

Theme song ‘Odyssey’ performed by Edward Abela

00:00 Introduction

01:51 Why investigate protest?

04:56 What are the PCSC and POA?

10:28 What’s a ‘serious disruption’?

11:53 Who do these rules target?

16:49 We’re all ‘arrestables’ now

19:42 Are all protests targeted equally?

22:52 Targeting BLM and XR

25:56 How does the party of free speech justify suppressing protest?

29:25 The carol service crackdown

32:28 Why don’t Labour ‘undo’ this?

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