A protest permit to hold or parade permit is permission granted by a governmental agency for a demonstration to be held in a particular venue at a particular time. Failing to obtain a permit may lead to charges of parading without a permit. The requirement of a permit is sometimes denounced as an infringement of

free speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recog ...

, as permits are denied on spurious grounds or protestors are corralled into free speech zones. Permits are sometimes denied on grounds that the protest will create a security risk. There seems to be evidence that the available venues for protests are shrinking in number; that citizens have experienced increasing difficulty in gaining unrestricted access to them; and that such venues are no longer where most people typically congregate in large numbers. In

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morg ...

, the National Park Service Police,

U.S. Capitol Police The United States Capitol Police (USCP) is a federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agency in the United States with nationwide jurisdiction charged with protecting the United States Congress within the District of ...

, and Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia have an elaborate permitting system. Many famous people such as Martin Luther King Jr. have been arrested for protesting without a permit.

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and s ...

's spokesperson declares: "A forbidding of a protest is legal on an international point of view only if it is motivated for a precise threat, and only if there is no other available general restriction to maintain order"

Per country

France

In France many protests have been forbidden. Israelian conflict related protests have been routinely forbidden. Security risks have been brought for it, with a focus at protecting Jewish communities, which have undergone some attacks. Also, the aim was to avoid confrontation between pro-israelian and pro-palestinian protesters. Jean-Luc-Mélenchon of left wing party of

La France insoumise La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims ...

declared " "France is the only country where all support protests for palestinians are forbidden, and protests against israelian far-right government, it is obviously to create ''power incidendents'' and stigmatise that cause".

Covid-19

As to forbid general protests

During the covid outbreak the need to prevent gathering has been used regularly to forbid protests.

About covid-19 restrictions

Such as a BLM protest in Ireland where the government tweeted that it had been in Dublin was forbidden on 3 June 2020. Many protests also occurred against covid restrictions or about the response given to the virus.

References