https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/battle-joined-defend-democracy
BATTLE was joined to defend the right to protest today as the government launched a twin-track attack on the Palestine solidarity movement.
Top cabinet minister Michael Gove launched a mendacious smear attack on the pro-Palestine protests while Lord Walney, the government’s “independent adviser” on political disruption, published his long-trailed report full of repressive measures.
Yet even while moving to attack democratic rights, the government was handed a stinging rebuke by High Court judges who ruled today that earlier measures by the Home Office to make it easier to ban protests were unlawful.
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The organisers of the Gaza ceasefire marches have written to the police protesting at the decision to allow an abusive group of Israel supporters to rally within feet of the march last Saturday.
In a letter the six organisations demanded a meeting with Met Commissioner Mark Rowley, saying that “the whole demonstration had to run a frightening gauntlet of abuse, insult and provocation, the aim of which was clearly to create a physical confrontation.
“We want an explanation of how and why this was allowed to happen and an undertaking that future counter protests will be properly policed.”
https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/battle-joined-defend-democracy