ABSTRACT
Within the UK, three very different legal frameworks exist to protect (or arguably, primarily to regulate) the right to protest and the freedom of peaceful assembly. The statutory framework in England and Wales differs significantly from the law in Scotland2 and in Northern Ireland.3 However, while the regional institutions, their statutory
throughout the UK share the same obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA). The extent to which these HRA obligations have (or have not) reshaped the protection of public protest in England and Wales is the focus of this chapter – noting, in particular, the Coalition government’s May 2010 commitment to ‘restore rights to non-violent protest’.4
