Vilified, arrested, held incommunicado: that's the price of protest in Britain today | George Monbiot

Keir Starmer's team might not look or sound like Donald Trump’s , but its policies on protest and dissent are chillingly similar.

So is the reason: coordinated global lobbying by the rich and powerful, fronted by rightwing junktanks.

Police, governments and the media have sought to conflate peaceful protest with extremism and terrorism.

Oligarchs and corporations on both sides of the Atlantic want to stamp out any threat to their interests.

The Labour party was built on protest, but now seeks only to harden oppressive laws.

Last week , it announced new measures allowing police to prevent or divert protests “where the effect of the protest is to intimidate those attending a place of worship” Already the police widely abuse their powers under sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act to impede marches and assemblies.