Banning face coverings, expanding facial recognition – how the UK government and police are eroding protest rights

By Daragh Murray, Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights Law at Queen Mary University of London, Queen Mary University of London
Pete Fussey, Professor of Criminology and Head of Department for Sociology, Social Policy and Criminology, University of Southampton

It’s a dangerous time for protest rights in the UK. The government has introduced a bill that would make it a criminal offence to conceal your identity at a protest.

The crime and policing bill establishes an offence if a person conceals their identity within a specifically designated area. That is, an area where the police believe that a protest is taking place, or is likely to take place, and that involves, or might involve, the “commission of offences” (people breaking the law).

These powers are preemptive…

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