Protest crackdown
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House, he’s led a high-profile campaign to crack down on lawful protesters. He has railed against “these violent agitators” and warned that they’ll be imprisoned or “sent back to their country from which they came.” He’s even promoted foreign strongmen’s ability to control their populations and squelch internal dissent, a view that is deeply disturbing to students at colleges who’ve pushed to protect free speech rights.
At the same time, many local law enforcement agencies — particularly elected sheriffs and police departments prone to right-wing radicalization — are eager to adopt the anti-liberal rhetoric of Trump’s administration and aggressively police protesters, First Amendment or not. They’re poised to increase their use of militarized tactics, such as flashbangs and SWAT team raids, against protesters who oppose Trump’s unconstitutional policies.
The escalation in violent force against protesters has also been matched by an upsurge in state laws that seek to criminalize constitutionally protected peaceful demonstrations, particularly those related to the US-backed war in Gaza and climate crisis. Forty-one new anti-protest bills have been introduced this year in 22 states, compared to a full-year total of 52 in 2024 and 26 in 2023.
The wave of anti-protest legislation threatens the very core of our democracy. Whether by scaring people away from protests or criminalizing their exercise of free speech, these laws are dangerous and must be stopped. *
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