Testing the limits of free expression

Around the world, the limits of free expression and the rights to protest are being tested, in some cases with appalling consequences. Days of rioting in Iraq have left more than 100 dead and thousands injured as people have taken to the streets to make a stand against unemployment, poor public services and rampant corruption. On Saturday, security forces broke up a mass rally in Baghdad with little care as to who got in their way. Live rounds were fired and tear gas deployed.

The demonstrations that began in the capital last week have spread across Iraq in an open challenge to the government of Adel Abdul-mahdi almost a year after he took office. His hold on power looks tenuous.

Four thousand miles away in Hong Kong, thousands took to the streets for yet another weekend of demonstrations, this time with a prohibition on wearing face masks, although most of the pro-democracy protestors ignored the ban in a direct challenge to the authorities in both Hong Kong and Beijing.

The demonstrations, which began peacefully many months ago with the so-called Umbrella Movement, are becoming increasingly violent on both sides. The problem the activists face is that international support will ebb away if they adopt tactics that no government in the world would accept. Laws prohibiting the wearing of masks by people attacking police and property are not confined to one-party states.

Meanwhile, here in the UK, the climate change group Extinction Rebellion is preparing for a fortnight of protest actions to include disruption to transport in London and other stunts. On the eve of the proposed activity, police arrested 10 people and raided a building said to be storing equipment to be used by the protestors.

They are demanding that the Government takes the issue of global warming seriously, and yet the UK’S policy on carbon reduction is one of the most ambitious in the world. In some countries, taking to the streets is often the last resort. Here we have democratic processes. They should be followed rather than disrupting the lives of millions.