Following Donald Trump’s presidential win, lawmakers in at least 19 states have introduced legislation to restrict the right to protest, even making it legal to run over protesters blocking traffic, or allowing officers to clear the road by “any means necessary.”
Maina Kiai and David Kaye, U.N. experts on freedom of peaceful assembly and expression, warn the trend in such state bills is incompatible with international human rights, and ending peaceful protests infringes upon U.S. constitutional rights.
“The trend threatens to jeopardize one of the United States’ constitutional pillars: free speech,” Kiai and Kaye said in a recent statement sent to U.S. authorities.
