Legal Threats to the Right to Protest

Abstract

In the face of a record number of protests around the world, both authoritarian and democratic governments have increasingly engaged in illiberal legal practices to control demonstrations. Drawing on a range of country examples, this chapter analyzes three of the most common types of legal restrictions on protests: (1) restricting if, where, and when protests occur; (2) criminalizing the activity of nonviolent protesters; and (3) targeting the ecosystem that makes protests impactful. It argues that a more robust interpretation of the right to protest is needed to address this expanding arsenal of legal threats. In aid of this effort, it claims that a more systematic analysis of legal restrictions on protests, like that presented in this chapter, helps policymakers better identify how protest rights are actually being undermined; creates insights for effective protective interventions; and demonstrates how legal threats to the freedom of peaceful assembly continue to evolve, requiring ongoing recalibration in response.

Keywords: Freedom of assembly, right to protest, social movements, human rights, legal threats to demonstrations, comparative