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A study by the International Federation for Human Rights states that right to protest is under sustained attack in the west. Specifically, it highlights an uptick in counter-terror laws being tenuously ‘weaponised’ against pro-Palestine groups.
Freedom of speech is a seriously contentious topic in the UK at the moment, and the latest reports will only heap fuel on the fire.
A study by the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) says that people’s right to protest is being actively supressed across the west. It draws particular attention to the UK, US, France, and Germany, where it says that governments have ‘weaponised’ counter-terrorism laws to dampen civic dissent.
The report, which isn’t publicly available online, draws on open-source research, first-hand testimonies, and reports from international organisations. The data was recorded between October 2023 to September 2025, and some of the figures give us an idea as to why the perceived act of protesting is under greater scrutiny.
During this period, hate crimes against Muslims were reportedly up a fifth, Islamophobic assaults rose by 72% in 2024, and antisimetic incidents are continually rising. The report alludes to these points as being significant in spurring deliberate government acts of censorship.
‘This trend reflects a worrying shift towards the normalisation of exceptional measures in dealing with dissenting voices,’ said Yosra Frawes, head of Maghreb and Middle East operations at FIDH.
As Israel’s war on Palestine seemingly approaches its end days, we’re expected to see a conclusion to the mass protests that have been dotted across the west for the last two years. In the UK, where protests regularly took place, the report claims that the Labour government used inflammatory chants, and antisimetic sentiments from small portions of the crowds as an excuse to vastly increase police powers.
‘The right to protest has come under sustained attack from the British government across administrations and party lines,’ says the report, which references the anti-protest legislation put forward by the Conservatives in 2024 – later deemed unlawful – and Labour’s apparent ‘support for Israel’.
