#SilencingDissent: The #Crackdown on #PeacefulProtest in #Europe

In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries.

by Flore du Teilleul
April 10, 2025

Excerpt:
"The right to peaceful protest is essential to our democracies, allowing people to come together with a unified voice to support or oppose key issues. It serves as a powerful mechanism for individuals to hold their governments to account and is often the last resort when prior messages go unheard. However, politicians often perceive this right as a threat, especially when force of numbers demonstrates support for an issue.

"In our recently published Rule of Law report, Liberties’ members reported an increase in restrictions on the right to peaceful protest in all countries - from bans on individual protests to the disproportionate use of force by the police and legislative changes. A widespread trend emerged of restricted #ProPalestine protests and #EnvironmentalDefenders receiving particularly harsh penalties.

Bans on Protests

"Restrictions on various protest movements justified on public safety grounds were documented in many member states. In #Germany, the Berlin Assembly Authorities implemented a temporary blanket ban targeting pro-Palestine demonstrations. Initially, the ban targeted celebrations of the mass murder and pro-Hamas demonstrations but later extended to all pro-Palestinian protests. Similarly, in #Latvia, an unregistered #FreePalestine movement protest was banned after an assessment by the state security service that the event would, among other risks, harm the country’s international interests.

"The Estonian police banned a protest in support of #Palestinians, which was later declared unlawful by the administrative court. In #Hungary, Prime Minister #ViktorOrbán publicly prejudiced support for Palestinians by linking it with terrorism, equating solidarity with civilians victims to threats to the public order. As the fifteen attempts to organise protests were successively banned, the government and the Prime Minister re-asserted their power by deciding what can be demonstrated for, namely, topics in line with their political interests. Following the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the Hungarian government has repeatedly declared and extended the state of danger, allowing for the adoption of emergency decrees restricting, among other rights, the freedom to assemble. Both the Hungarian Supreme Court and Constitutional Court upheld the protest bans on the basis of public safety and security, legalising the practice of police-authorised restrictions in times of conflict.

"Further restrictions, including bans on #slogans and #signs during #demonstrations, sought to criminalise protesters. Several individuals were arrested or fined for displaying signs or slogans related to Palestine. In #Belgium, activists faced administrative sanctions for carrying a #PalestinianFlag or the #keffiyeh. Similarly, in the #Netherlands, attendees of an #ExtinctionRebellion demonstration were prohibited from mentioning the conflict in the Middle East. The enforcement of restrictions went as far as arrests, as Croatian activists were charged with misdemeanor after projecting a message in support of Palestine on a building across from the Israeli Embassy in Zagreb.

"In Hungary, a demonstrator faced criminal charges after wearing a gas mask and removing it after being asked by the police. In a worrying trend of criminalising protest activities, several activists were arrested and charged with sedition before an Extinction Rebellion demonstration in the Netherlands.

Disproportionate use of force by the police

"The criminalisation of environmental and pro-Palestine protesters was worsened by the violent repression of the police through excessive use of force. This was particularly notable in Sweden, where student encampments in support of Palestinians were forcibly displaced and participants were charged with criminal offenses. #PainGrips, water guns and #WaterCannons were used against environmental activists, pro-Palestinian and anti-immigration demonstrators in Germany, the #Netherlands and #Ireland.

"Environmental activists faced similar fates, The NGO ‘#FranceNatureEnvironnement’ reported concerns to the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders following the violent repression of protesters during a demonstration against the A69 highway. In #Sweden, a woman was dismissed from her job at the Swedish Energy Agency for participating in an environmental demonstration and a growing number of #EcoActivists were fined for participating in peaceful protests."

Read more:
https://www.liberties.eu/en/stories/rule-of-law-2025-protests/45384

Any Hungarian-Serbian Alliance Would Have Very Real Limits

Any Hungarian-Serbian Alliance Would Have Very Real Limits

By Andrew Korybko

Hungary won’t go to war against Croatia in support of Serbia, thus de facto defecting from NATO with all the cascading consequences that this would entail, including a possible NATO invasion.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic drew regional attention when he praised his country’s newly signed military roadmap with Hungary for “coming closer to a Hungarian-Serbian alliance.” The immediate backdrop concerns mid-March’s joint defence declaration between Croatia, Albania, and Kosovo. All three have a recent history of conflict with Serbia, Belgrade still claims what it regards as its rogue NATO-occupied Autonomous Provine of Kosovo & Metohija, and there’s a new round of uncertainty in Bosnia.

The de facto creation of a Croatian-Albanian/”Kosovar” alliance, the latest problems in Bosnia, and Vucic’s intent to create a Hungarian-Serbian alliance have therefore raised concerns that these two alliances might go to war with one another over Kosovo and/or Bosnia. Each also counts NATO members among them, Croatia and Albania in the first and Hungary in the second, thus running the risk of an intra-bloc crisis far worse than 1974’s Greek-Turkish one over Cyprus if this scenario comes to pass.

It might not, however, or at least not in the sense of these two groups of countries fighting one another. While it’s entirely possible that Croatia might exploit a crisis in Serbian-Albanian/“Kosovar” relations to make a coordinated military move in support of its co-ethnics in Bosnia or they exploit a Croatian-Bosnian crisis to make a coordinated military move against Serbia, Hungary is unlikely to intervene. That’s because it has no pressing national security interests at stake to justify the incalculable costs.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban is the consummate pragmatist who prioritizes his conception of national interests as he sincerely understands them to be. The worst-case scenario that he might expect from another regional conflict over Kosovo and/or Bosnia is an influx of (mostly Serbian) refugees to Hungary, the total number of whom would likely be much less than during the height of 2015’s Migrant Crisis and which his government has contingency plans in place to manage. That wouldn’t justify going to war.

The absolute most that Hungary might do in that situation is provide whatever military aid it could muster from its stockpiles to Serbia, but even that can’t be taken for granted since Orban might worry that doing so – at least right away – could disqualify him as a mediator. In any case, de facto defecting from NATO by waging war against neighbouring member Croatia in support of Serbia is completely off the table due to the cascading consequences that this would entail, including a possible NATO invasion.

Vucic knows this so his quip about a “Hungarian-Serbian alliance” must have been meant for public consumption at home and in the region with the respective intent of falsely reassuring his people that Hungary will fight alongside them if there’s a regional war while unsettling the others’ by making them worry that their governments (Croatia, Albania, and Kosovo) might soon be responsible for provoking this. At the elite level, however, no policymaker will likely fall for his perception management spectacle.

His words will accordingly have no influence over the course of regional events unless in the far-fetched scenario that Hungary formally enters into a mutual defence pact with Serbia that stipulates sending equipment and/or troops if either is attacked. There’s no indication that Orban is considering this though since it would greatly threaten Hungary’s national interests as was explained so observers shouldn’t give much weight to talk of a Hungarian-Serbian alliance or take it too seriously if it ever enters into being.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Voice of East.

7 Courses in 1 – Diploma in Business Management