Who are the real extremists? The people challenging injustices or those trying to shut down our rights? | George Monbiot
Look at a new report proposing horrifying clampdowns on protest β and ask where the threat to our society truly lies
Itβs not hard to spot the extremists inflaming public passions in Britain and disrupting our lives. They play an active role in politics, and sometimes claim to be running the country. But Iβm not sure many people have understood just how far they are prepared to go.
The new report by the governmentβs βindependent adviser on political violenceβ and crossbench peer, John Woodcock (Lord Walney), is bad enough: horrifying in fact. It proposes that the government should restrict the ability of protest groups βto organise or fundraiseβ, tighten the laws against protest even further and, driving what could be a final nail, permit any businesses targeted by protesters, or people disrupted by them, to pursue them for financial damages.
George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist
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