Rishi Sunak’s crackdown on protests is misguided

“Out of the road, please,” said a Metropolitan Police officer to a protester in Camden, a neighbourhood in north London. The protester, an older man with a long grey beard, had not been trying to stop the traffic. He had simply been distracted by crossing the road in misty rain while carrying a large banner that read “Do I look like an extremist?” and talking intently to the officer, who was being painstakingly courteous back. “Here we are chatting and you’re going to get run over,” he said, as he guided the man to the pavement.