This Is Repression: A Netpol Report

Just last month Netpol released their report ‘This Is Repression’ which documents the expansion of restrictions and policing to impose social control on protests.

The report discusses the rising criminalization of political activism, police misusing existing powers to disrupt peaceful protests, while surveillance, pre-emptive arrests and aggressive tactics, such as electronic tagging and house raids, are used against campaigners. The report also discusses the use of vague legal definitions in order to justify a restriction on civil liberties in the UK.

They pose the question, ‘at what point does restrictions to protest rights […] finally tip over into repression?’.

A summary of the key findings can be found below.

Key Findings: 

• Netpol found that the media and government have consistently pressured police forces to act quicker and more decisively when protests pose a potential risk of “serious disruption.” This is interpreted as anything that causes “more than minor” hindrance to the public.

• According to Home Office data, the Metropolitan Police is nearly the only force using existing powers under Section 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to unfairly restrict protests, systematically disrupting marches and protests in central London.
• Pro-Palestine protests have been accused of fostering ‘radicalisation,’ with increased efforts to connect them to hate crimes and extremism. This has involved an Islamophobic narrative portraying pro-Palestine and British Muslim protesters as either antisemitic or as an ‘Islamist threat’ to the safety of MPs.

• A concerted effort by the media, government, and police has been underway to label the direct-action group Palestine Action as ‘terrorists,’ while the police's broad interpretation of what constitutes “glorifying” proscribed ‘terrorist’ organisations has led to inconsistent and unpredictable arrests. Individuals have been detained for little more than wearing specific colours or styles of clothing or displaying Arabic writing on placards, banners, and clothing.
• ‘Public nuisance’ is now firmly regarded as a protest-related offence.

• Police surveillance has escalated, with campaigners being categorized as “aggravated activists,” paving the way for the introduction of Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (anti-protest banning orders targeting specific individuals). This increased surveillance has led to more pre-emptive arrests before protests.

• Despite increasing levels of police surveillance, authorities consistently focused on the activities of pro-Palestine and climate groups as major threats to public order, while downplaying the risk of racist street violence. Police risk assessments ignored the danger posed by far-right groups, even just months before the riots in August 2024.

• Police are increasingly using restrictive pre-charge bail conditions to target specific campaigners when individuals are arrested. Largely hidden from public view and with minimal media coverage, these campaigners endure aggressive surveillance, house raids, and harassment, often disguised as curfew checks.

• Judges now seem less willing to accept that conscientious motivations for breaking the law are important or related to the greater violence campaigners aim to prevent, with serious criminal damage implicitly regarded as ‘violent’ by the courts. Juries are denied the opportunity to hear about the defendants' motives or decide whether these have any bearing on their actions. Instead, they are instructed to follow a ‘legal flowchart’ that inevitably leads to a conviction.
• Alongside a growing trend of harsh prison sentences for political activism, campaigners awaiting trial or released into the community after sentencing have raised concerns about a broken system of electronic tagging and bail conditions, which make daily life nearly impossible.

You can find the full report here.

We at Saunders Law have an experienced Human Rights and Actions Against the Police Team. You can contact our solicitors for independent legal advice via our website or on 020 7632 4300.