ScheerPost/truthout
Since January 2017, 45 states have considered 267 bills that restrict the right to protest, according to the International Center for Not-For-Profit Law. Currently, at least 39 laws restrict the right to protest, including laws that limit where people can protest, laws that provide immunity for motorists who harm protesters, laws that enact penalties for protests near oil and gas pipelines and other critical infrastructure, laws seeking to have organizers who plan demonstrations held financially responsible for the costs of protests, laws that provide overly broad definitions of a riot, etc. That is not by mistake; we are seeing a coordinated effort to silence dissent in every state, every city and every jurisdiction.