LONDON: Western governments are waging a sustained attack against the right to protest, the International Federation for Human Rights has warned, citing the growing criminalization of pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Governments in the UK, US, France and Germany have “weaponized” domestic counterterrorism legislation and fears of antisemitism to suppress public anger over the Gaza war, the study found, drawing on open-source research, eyewitness testimonies and reports from international organizations.
“This trend reflects a worrying shift towards the normalization of exceptional measures in dealing with dissenting voices,” said Yosra Frawes, head of the Maghreb and Middle East desk at FIDH.
The study, which was conducted between October 2023 and September 2025, highlights concerns over the censorship of elected politicians, violations of media rights, and the silencing of civil society and academic freedom in the four major Western countries, where pro-Palestine protests have regularly been held since the outbreak of the war.
It warns that the “right to protest has come under sustained attack from the British government across administrations and party lines,” and that it has “pushed to legitimize Israel’s genocidal violence” and “continued to justify support for Israel.”
Senior figures in the UK, such as former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, have also pushed a censorious narrative against pro-Palestine demonstrators exercising their free speech by calling weekly rallies “hate marches,” the study said.
When considered with statements made by government figures, the public narrative has stigmatized “support for Palestine and Palestinian resistance movements,” and “worked to discriminate against Muslims and other racialized groups in the UK,” it added.
Despite Labour’s election victory last year, there has been “little” change in government narratives about the war and domestic protest movements, the study found.
The government continues to link criticism of Israel and support for Palestine to “violent antisemitism” and “targeted Muslim and racialized groups.”
Hate crimes against Muslims in the UK have risen by almost one-fifth, recent government data shows.
But according to Tell Mama, an organization that records anti-Muslim incidents in the UK, Islamophobic attacks surged by 73 percent last year.
Despite the variation in protest laws and rights among the four major Western countries, the FIDH report highlighted a broad trend of repression against Palestinian solidarity globally.
Pro-Palestine rallies in the US, France and Germany have been met with blanket bans in some cases, as well as legal action and arrests.
The study calls on the UK government to launch an independent body to monitor policing practices during demonstrations.
It also says section 12 of the UK Terrorism Act, which criminalizes support for outlawed groups, must be overhauled to exclude protected political opinions and broad slogans of solidarity.
“Ultimately, the crackdown on solidarity with Palestinians reveals a profound crisis, not only of human rights in the occupied territories but of freedom itself, in societies that claim to be democratic,” it warned.
