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Battle joined to defend democracy
Police look on as protesters gather outside the Business and Trade department in London to show solidarity with Palestine, as they campaign against military arms being manufactured in the UK and sent to Israel, May 1, 2024

BATTLE was joined to defend the right to protest today as the government launched a twin-track attack on the Palestine solidarity movement.

Top cabinet minister Michael Gove launched a mendacious smear attack on the pro-Palestine protests while Lord Walney, the government’s “independent adviser” on political disruption, published his long-trailed report full of repressive measures.

Yet even while moving to attack democratic rights, the government was handed a stinging rebuke by High Court judges who ruled today that earlier measures by the Home Office to make it easier to ban protests were unlawful.

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