Eight repeat protests that achieved positive change

Our right to protest is under threat.

Our ability to stand up for what matters to us – from demanding an end to war to opposing local library closures – is central to a healthy, functioning democracy.

But in recent years, successive governments have made it harder for us to speak out by giving the police huge powers to restrict protests and arrest demonstrators.

Their latest anti-protest proposal comes in the form of the Crime and Policing Bill, which among other things, would place restrictions on repeat protests if made law.

We have seen this approach before. In 2023, the previous Conservative Government introduced similar powers through amendments to the Public Order Act 1986. This law meant police ‘may’ take ‘relevant cumulative disruption’ into account when looking to restrict protests.

Liberty challenged these Regulations and, in May last year, the Court of Appeal upheld the decision that these laws were unlawful and subsequently quashed them.

This time around, the Crime and Policing Bill goes further by upgrading ‘may’ into ‘must’. This increases the risk that authorities will restrict repeat, lawful protests simply because other protests have happened, other protests are happening, or protesters have planned other protests nearby.

Protest has always been part of British culture and tradition. It makes our democracy more resilient, our government more responsive and our society more inclusive.

Change is rarely achieved from a one-off demonstration outside Parliament. It can take years of campaigning before we’re heard.

Eight repeat protests that achieved positive change

1. Votes for Women

The campaign for equal voting rights gained momentum in the mid-1800s, but it took over 80 years to achieve. Suffrage campaigners used direct action and peaceful protest tactics to make their voices heard and gain public support.

2. LGBT equality

The decriminalisation of homosexuality was only achieved in full in 2003 – 46 years after the Wolfenden Report (1957) suggested decriminalising private homosexual acts between two consenting adults. In this period, activist groups such as the Gay Liberation Front were formed and campaigned across the country for LGBT equality, including the first London Pride march on July 1, 1972.

3. Justice for Gurkhas

From 2004, Gurkha soldiers from Nepal – who had served in the British Army since 1815 – fought for the rights of veterans to settle in the UK. This took five years of campaigning to achieve; in 2009, the government announced that all Gurkha veterans who had retired before 1997 were entitled to settle in Britain. Today, the fight continues for equal access to pensions.

4. Justice for Grenfell and safer homes

After the Grenfell Tower fire in June 2017, survivors, bereaved families and local residents organised sustained public campaigning, including a Silent Walk on the 14th of each month. That pressure helped keep the issue on the national agenda, and it was followed by major building safety reforms including the Fire Safety Act 2021 and the Building Safety Act 2022, which created a new safety regime and a Building Safety Regulator.

5. Access to the Countryside

The ‘right to roam’ movement started in 1867. Local rambling groups across the UK protested for access to the countryside, including the Kinder Scout mass trespass in the Peak District in 1932. In 2000, the Countryside and Rights of Way (CROW) Act granted the right to access mountains, moors, heaths and downs in the UK – after over 100 years of campaigning.

6. Repealing Section 28

This damaging law was introduced in 1988 and banned the ‘promotion of homosexuality’ in schools and local authorities. Campaign groups organised against Section 28, including the founding of Stonewall by Sir Ian McKellen, Lord Michael Cashman, and Lisa Power. It was repealed in 2003 in England and Wales (2000 in Scotland) after fifteen years of protesting and activism from the LGBT community.

7. Opposing Apartheid

The British Anti-Apartheid Movement (AAM) started in 1959 and spanned roughly 35 years. Regular demonstrations helped gain wide public support, and they successfully pressured the UK government and institutions to impose harsher sanctions. This led to the eventual dismantling of African apartheid and the release of Nelson Mandela from prison.

8. Fracking Ban

When the first shale gas fracking site opened near Blackpool in 2011, local communities across the country united against it. After eight years of protests outside site entrances and parliamentary campaigning, in November 2019 the Government announced a moratorium (temporary ban) on fracking. More recently, ministers have confirmed plans to bring forward legislation to end new onshore licensing in England, including licences that could be used for fracking, moving beyond a temporary moratorium towards a firmer ban.

History proves that when we come together, bit by bit, we can change things for the better.

Banning repeat protests would have threatened these movements and left us without many of the rights we take for granted today.

One day it may be our views that are ignored, our community that’s under threat. One day we may need to come together to make our voices heard.

On that day, we too will have the right to protest: positively and powerfully.

But only if we defend that right. Right now.