The Right to Protest (SC)

The right to protest is a singular right. While the right is celebrated for being at the core of any functioning democratic system, it is at the same time severely restricted because of the threat to public order it represents. Freedom to protest is deemed to be fundamental, in that it is one of the conditions of democracy, but it is also feared in light of its inherent disruptive nature, and therefore restricted because the Constitution is “not a suicide pact”. This paradox and the structural tensions that engulf the right to protest have been particularly on show during the last several years in the United States, through the Occupy movement and the Black Lives Matter protests as well as in Europe, notably in France – from the Yellow Vests movement to the recent protests against the pension reform bill for example. Notwithstanding rhetorical and symbolic proclamations, the right to protest faces increasingly significant restrictions at the global level. This short course will examine the current challenges to the right to protest in the United States and Europe by analyzing the legal framework of the freedom to assembly in different jurisdictions, and the scope of its limitations, through public security imperatives, mass surveillance, increasing privatization of public space and the way in which this liberty itself is understood.