Umamah Bakharia 

Amnesty International has launched a new global campaign, “Protect the Protest”. The organisation says the right to protest is under unprecedented and growing threat worldwide.

Amnesty International South Africa Executive Director Shenilla Mohamed says states are increasing efforts to erode this fundamental human right. Even though the right to peaceful protest is enshrined in the South African Constitution, the organisation argues that this right is under threat by how police mismanage the right to protest.

Speaking to Radio Islam, she says, “the challenge we are facing in South Africa is that the excessive use of force constantly threatens this right and in particular the use of rubber bullets and other so-called ‘non-lethal’ weapons which cause damage that has resulted in a number of injuries and in some cases death.”

The organisation says that police officers need to be trained to deal with protests so that violence can be avoided, such as using non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets.

“The police need proper training on public order policing so they can handle the protestors in a non-violent way,” says Shenilla. She adds that there is no real accountability from the police in the courts.

One of the reasons why Amnesty International launched this campaign is because protests around the globe are facing state pressure that infringes people’s right to protest. Besides violent enforcement, governments use spyware, cutting off the internet, and tracking to be alerted of possible threats.

“States are getting nervous and we see more and more violence being used to stop [protests] from taking to the streets,” says Shenilla.

Over the years, protests like ‘Me Too’, ‘Block Lives Matter’, ‘Climate Crisis’ etc., have gained huge global reactions.