Don't forget, in the UK, you legally must notify the police of any march or protest. The police can then say no, change where you protest, or impose any other condition[1]
And yet we decry the way China handled protests in Hong Kong. The UK population are blindly walking into deeper in to the dark ... but hey, as long as the McDonald's drive-thru is has milkshakes there's no problem?
Not in the UK, but I once organized a protest. I talked to the police beforehand. Their questions were very interesting: "Where? When? How many people? Will you have signs? Will the signs be on poles? What will the poles be made out of, and how thick will they be?" They didn't care about the act of protest, or about the content of the protest. They cared about the potential for sign poles to be used as clubs - about the potential for it to turn violent.
I must say, I think that's legitimately a concern for the police.
I'm sure 90%+ cases are legitimate concerns and even handed enforcement.
The issue is the legislation doesn't specify those things and just allows control of protests for basically any reason at the discretion of the police.
The police are not equipped to make those societal decisions IMHO, and the legislation is far far too loose.
Incidentally, the times when the legislation is abused tends to be the times when it matters greatly that it isn't.
In the UK, though the page I linked is a bit misleading:
Section 14 of the Public Order Act: - Public Assemblies
"As with Section 12, the senior officer may impose conditions on public assemblies, which he considers are reasonably necessary to prevent serious public disorder etc. Unlike Section 12, the conditions he may reasonably impose are in this case limited to specifying:
a) the numbers of people who may take part,
b) the location of the assembly, and
c) its maximum duration.
An assembly is defined by Section 16 of the Act as consisting of two people or more"
In effect, the police can limit the size, location and duration of an assembly at their discretion. That is, they can end it, make it so small it doesn't matter or move it to somewhere it doesn't matter.
I'm pretty sure that legal requirement is not only quite old but was put in place to stop literal, actual fascists from holding marches a few years before World War II.
And yet we decry the way China handled protests in Hong Kong. The UK population are blindly walking into deeper in to the dark ... but hey, as long as the McDonald's drive-thru is has milkshakes there's no problem?
[1]: https://www.gov.uk/protests-and-marches-letting-the-police-k...