Last Monday, the government announced that they would lift all Covid-19 restrictions and return our fundamental freedoms for good.

Today, there is a chance that they might just take them straight back again. At least, those related to protest.  

The controversial Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill returned to the House of Commons last night for more debate about, well, the right to debate. For months, human rights experts from across the political spectrum have been loudly voicing concerns about how the Bill will stifle the right to protest and place Covid restrictions on individual liberties on permanent footing.   

The Bill, after all, would allow law enforcers to ban citizens from causing what might be interpreted as “serious unease” on the street. As tempting as this might sound, it might beg a little time for self-reflection on most of our parts. We’re all annoying to someone. The beauty of a democracy is that we can all hold different opinions. A law this ambiguous might have been theoretically intended to block Extinction Rebellion from what Boris Johnson described as “littering” the streets with “heaving hemp-smelling bivouacs”. In practice, it could censor anyone simply expressing a viewpoint deemed unpopular.