A DAMNING report warned today that crackdowns on the right to protest have become so severe they amount to state repression.

The State Of Protest report by the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol) examined worrying developments over the last year.

It accuses the government and the police of implementing “an alarming package of state-supported measures designed to impose social control on protests on a scale reminiscent of the ‘war on terror’ two decades ago.”