Granary Square in King's Cross – one of London's POPS (privately owned public spaces). Image: Bex Walton/Flickr. Some rights reserved.
This article is part of Right to Protest, a partnership project with human rights organisations CELS and INCLO, with support from the ACLU, examining the power of protest and its fundamental role in democratic society.
There has always been a battleground over the question of protests in public space. In the 19th century, there were a series of demonstrations in Hyde Park, which was the only space capable of holding mass rallies, but which was land privately held by the crown. In 1855, working men gathered to protest against the Sunday Trading bill that would close shops on Sundays: they mocked the wealthy floating by in their carriages and jossled and fought with police. In 1866, the Reform League called a rally in Hyde Park calling for the extension of suffrage: when the demonstrators found that the park had been closed against them, they tore off hundreds of yards of railings to enter the park. Eventually, the 1872 Parks Regulation Act granted the right to speak and meet freely in the park, within certain bounds. The right to protest in public space was not given, but won.
