The head of London’s Metropolitan Police wrote to Home Secretary Priti Patel in December saying that the Extinction Rebellion protests provided a "much-needed opportunity” to give police greater powers to curb protests in the UK.
Opposition MPs, human rights campaigners and lawyers have described the comments as “deeply worrying” and warned that changes to the laws governing public demonstrations would damage democracy.
Responding to the global Black Lives Matter protests earlier this week, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that the “right to lawful protest” is a “key part of any democracy, which UK police uphold and facilitate.”
