The right to protest has come under sustained attack across the west, according to a report highlighting the growing criminalisation of pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
The study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) pays particular attention to the UK, the US, France and Germany, where it says governments have “weaponised” counter-terrorism legislation as well as the fight against antisemitism to suppress dissent and support for Palestinian rights in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The western states have the sterilization of protest down to a science, granting permits along preestablished routes and promoting liberal reformist types as the “real” leaders as well as using other civilians as disruptors instead of going in with the cops as a first recourse.
Banning protests and going for naked repression is pretty much exactly how you get protestors gravitating toward organizations that aren’t permit fetishists with NGOs.