In Portsmouth, England, the ancient tension between the right to gather and the duty to keep order has found a new expression: police will ban face coverings at this weekend's protest, invoking fresh legal powers born from a week of escalating disorder around migrant arrivals. The measure follows scenes at Eastney Marina where hundreds blocked roads, damaged vehicles, and injured officers in an effort to prevent coaches carrying Channel-crossing migrants from departing. Authorities frame the restriction not as a silencing of dissent, but as a narrowing of the anonymity that, they argue, embold
Police ban face coverings at Portsmouth protest under new powers
Several police officers were treated for injuries; one man arrested and charged with violent disorder and assaulting a police officer.