We are no longer allowed to protest in Britain. At all.

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Just to say that the British government has brought in laws to prevent the public from protesting about anything, even peacefully.

And that the police now have the powers to arrest anyone they think is 'likely to protest.'

That could be anyone! Any human at any time.

I'm angry and scared. Britain is quickly becoming a police state.

I'm so sorry to hear that.

I have a feeling it won't be long until the US ends up the same way.

Thats a disturbing development.

I've never felt the need to protest. It always seemed a waste of valuable time, I got further by spending my time working. That being said, I'm sorry that you've lost the ability to do something that meant a lot to you. I'm surprised it's happening in Britain, though. And I feel the origins of this can be tracked back to the 'lockdowns' of Covid. Governments everywhere saw how easy it was to scare people into submission, they've developed a taste for it now.

That's terrifying.
They'd have to take me down swinging.

Some states have legalized running over protesters. Oklahoma and Florida are examples. I'm surprised Texas hasn't.

Running over peaceful protesters: legal
Dick pics, weed, abortion: illegal

Britain has become a dictator state.

Illegal dick pics right where you just send a unsolicited one to someone? I'm not really concerned about this.

They haven't legalized running over protesters. My guess is that you haven't liked the outcome of some trials where the defendant was charged with mowing down a pedestrian who was demonstrating. I can't think of anything like that recently in the news for Texas and Florida. But, I do understand that just because I'm on foot and the other person is in a car doesn't mean they won't feel threatened by me if I decided to run up to their car cursing, screaming, waving my hands, throwing things, etc...
People who are demonstrating seem to think that people in cars won't be frightened by them. I can tell you that no amount of money could coax me out of the house and downtown to a protest. It would feel overstimulating, overwhelming, confusing and potentially dangerous. I'd be afraid that I would react vs. act, so I stay away.
What if the driver didn't know, felt threatened? And the protester wasn't behaving civilly? Should the driver be prosecuted simply because he/she was in a car? What if granny got the s**t scared out of her but prior to that had never hurt a fly?
I think that you think that people deserve prosecution simply because of who they are and who they ran over, with no consideration for the specific circumstances.
If you hold a sign, say a group chant and the like, chances are you won't be run over. If you jump up and down, scream, run up on people, hem them in, throw things, you might scare them and cause flight or fight. That's not legalizing running down protesters.

Two days ago a journalist was arrested by police at a protest. They showed their press card. They were covering a news story. They were still arrested.

In Britain.

I don't like where we're headed.

Yes, the police are arresting journalists for not doing anything, just standing there. And cautioning people who are holding up blank placards, in case they start causing trouble.

The police's new ability to arrest anyone 'likely to protest' is the scariest.

Any one of us could be standing somewhere, in the wrong place at the wrong time, and just because a police officer 'thinks we may protest', we could get arrested and thrown into a holding cell overnight. Like the journalists.

Anyone posting on this thread could be arrested, if you lived in Britain and were walking/standing in public somewhere.

It depends on the police officer's personal prejudices. Maybe you are wearing suspicious clothes, or your hair is dyed, or you are waiting for a friend.

It's very subjective and frightening when power is given out randomly like that.

Because if people can't protest, that means the government can do ANYTHING to us, make any law, any rule, and we can't object. They will walk all over us.

They are threatening to take away our Human Rights, our maternity leave, our health service, make us work longer hours than is safe.

And we can do nothing about it.

You are right. Be warned, Americans! Fight this and don't be like the apathetic Brits. We are too apathetic to notice what is going on until it's too late.

Americans are not apathetic. You have to fight this with all you've got.

The French on the other hand, refuse to accept what their government does to them. They protest, so their energy bills have not increased much. They protest about everything and so the government compromises and comes to an agreement which suits both them and the public.

Be like the French.

The Government started talking about changing the protest laws as soon as Boris Johnson was in power in late 2019 and it was with regards to the public protesting over Brexit which was due to come into effect in January 2021. The powers they realised they had during covid certainly added extra wind beneath their wings though

I guess now you need a good bunch of lawyers and win cases against the state... and you need journalists to make it loud.
That's what we've been doing when our govt tried to enforce illegal restrictions.
Once the state has spoiled, it's a work for decades to repair it but it can be done.

And, how about - protesting? After all, what's the worst thing that can happen to you? You're not in Iran, you won't get sentenced to death.

Thanks for your ideas

Lawyers have now been labelled 'woke lefties' whenever they stand up against anything, so no one trusts them. The government is working on (may have already achieved) a law saying that any judgement by the courts can be overruled by the government if they don't like it.

Some lawyers are still fighting however, despite being harassed constantly.

And journalists are the first ones who are being arrested. Funny that eh!! ! Keep the media quiet so the public doesn't know what is happening. Anyway, most of the media in Britain is controlled by right wing billionaires who pump out the same pro government and anti protest message.

Protesters can be jailed for 10 years after 6 months being held in jail before their trial. I wouldn't be surprised if they are in line to be deported, too.

Fascism by the back door.