The British government wants to hand police unprecedented powers to handle protesters. Human rights activists say it’s an affront to democracy

The British government wants to hand new powers to police that would allow officers to take stronger action against people engaging in peaceful, political protest. Human rights activists have accused the government of trying to suppress freedom of speech, while opposition politicians claim that Downing Street is simply trying to distract from the myriad of things going wrong in the United Kingdom at the moment. The government issued a statement on Sunday night, in which it said it would table amendments to legislation that is already passing through Parliament called the Public Order Bill. This has already been the subject of huge controversy due to the extent to which it curbs protest. Specifically, the bill nakedly targets groups such as Black Lives Matter, Extinction Rebellion and Just Stop Oil, all of which have used disruptive tactics in their protests against the government. The bill would criminalize long-standing protest tactics such as locking on (where ...