Why is Loose Women asking about banning protest?
The show has landed itself in hot water today after asking whether protest should be banned.
Yesterday, an arch-Putin critic was sentenced to 25 years in prison. Today, a US journalist appears in a Russian court appeal against his detention on the charge of espionage.
With that backdrop, the social media team for Loose Women thought it would be a good idea to pose the question to their Twitter followers “Should protesting be banned?”
Aside from the unfortunate backdrop, it’s not clear why they decided today was an appropriate day to pose the question. The restriction of protest has been covered in the news over the past few years as a result of the desecration of statues and other monuments during BLM protests in 2020 as well as the government’s Police and Crime Bill which was passed by parliament around this time last year.
There have been one or two incidents in recent days, including the World Snooker Championship yesterday evening, but, so far as I’m aware, there have been no calls from any notable individuals or groups to entirely ban protests as a result.
I alluded to Russia in my opening paragraph, which may seem a little extreme; the person or people behind the poll might feel it fair to point out that they’re not suggesting that anyone who expressed disagreement should be imprisoned for that. But organised protest (and I should point out that the Loose Women poll doesn’t differentiate between peaceful protest and anything which might be include an illegal act such as criminal damage) is the starting point for the expressing of opposition, and banning it would put us on a very slippery slope.
A democracy in which governments and established institutions feel at ease in being challenged is one in good health - a democracy which even contemplates the restriction of legitimate, peaceful protest is most certainly not.
I’m sure I wasn’t the only one to check their calendars to be sure we hadn’t been sent straight back to the beginning of the month as some sort of Groundhog Day-esque karmic encouragement to try the month again and to make better choices. Whichever genius at Loose Women thought that their poll was a good idea may be secretly hoping that such an option will be open to them.