As the government’s Crime and Policing Bill makes its way through parliament, MPs on the Public Bill Committee are scrutinising its clauses today – including, potentially, Clause 86. If passed, this provision will make it a criminal offence to conceal your identity at a protest. For some people this may sound sensible enough. But for dissidents from authoritarian regimes – and their families thousands of miles away – it’s a very real threat to their physical safety.
In fairness to those currently grappling with the issue, the legislation responds to a genuine problem: the adoption in the UK of the ‘black bloc’ face-concealing tactics pioneered by radical anarchists in the US. Since Hamas’s attack on Israel and the subsequent military response, pro-Palestinian demonstrations have regularly taken place in British cities. A sizeable minority of participants have clashed with police, brandished anti-Semitic placards and shouted anti-Semitic slogans. Many of the protestors have hidden
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