Amid the gloom of campus unrest and the Trump administration’s crackdown on free speech, some students say they’re no longer interested in protesting. “It’s too risky,” said one Columbia University student, who last spring led a series of antiwar demonstrations that blocked streets, erected tent cities and temporarily took over Hamilton Hall. “They’re trying to scare us away from expressing ourselves and they’re criminalizing the exercise of our constitutional rights.”
The student protest movement has become a backdrop for broader political fights across the US. At least four states have introduced bills targeting people who take part in peaceful protests, including imposing harsher civil penalties that can tie activists up in costly legal battles for years. Some of these laws have been targeted at activists who speak out against the war in Gaza or the climate crisis, while others appear to be a direct response to the largely peaceful migrant worker protests that erupted across Los Angeles this year.
During the first half of 2024, lawmakers introduced 41 new anti-protest bills in 22 states — the highest number for any full year since 2021. Many of these state bills seek to expand the criminal punishments for constitutionally protected protests, including those on US-backed war in Gaza and the climate crisis.
People who face intersecting forms of discrimination – such as age, race, gender and disability – are at increased risk of repression and violence when they take to the streets. It is crucial for all people to be able to exercise their right to protest, which is central to democracy. Amnesty International works to expose when this right is violated and support movements worldwide as they push for positive change.
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