As historians who study British, European and Global history we know that a right to protest, even noisy and disruptive protest, has in the past played an important part in securing democratic and other fundamental rights and freedoms in this country and around the world, and that it continues to do so. We urge Parliament to amend the clauses of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill 2021 to protect the right to protest. Preserving a tolerance for protest is an essential component of any recognizable liberal democracy.

Signed by the following members of staff, postdocs and postgraduates in the History Department at the University of Warwick:

Dr Stefan Bauer

Prof Maxine Berg

Charlotte Beesley

Dr Somak Biswas

Prof Roberta Bivins

Pierre Botcherby

Dr Becky Crites

Dr Andrew Burchell

Dr Michael Bycroft

Dr Song-Chuan Chen

Qiuyang Chen

Dr Joe Chick

Dr Rosemary Cresswell

Dr Guillemette Crouzet

Dr Camillia Cowling

Dr Jonathan Davies

Hannah Dennett

Monica Dinu

Dr Rosie Doyle

Prof Rebecca Earle

Liz Egan

Oihane Etayo

David Fletcher

Erin Geraghty

Prof Anne Gerritsen

Claudia Gray

Dr Anna Hájková

Dr Natalie Hanley-Smith

Prof Mark Knights

Imogen Knox

Aaron Kyereh-Mireku

Prof Beat Kumin

Prof David Lambert

Prof Tim Lockley

Dr Martha McGill

Prof Hilary Marland

Prof Peter Marshall

Fleur Martin

Dr Guido van Meersbergen

Prof Christoph Mick

Dr Stuart Middleton

Dr Gareth Millward

Sander Molenaar

Leiyun Ni

Dr Meleisa Ono-George

Louise Morgan

Leiyun Ni

Dr Simon Peplow

Serin Quinn

Prof Mark Philp

Dr Lydia Plath

Dr Naomi Pullin

Dr Pierre Purseigle

Prof Sarah Richardson

Dr Anna Ross

Dr Aditya Sarkar

Dr Timo Schrader

Dr Laura Schwarz

Dr Claire Shaw

Hannah Sherwood

Dr Botre Shikrant

Dr Chistopher Sirrs

Lauren Sleight

Dr Elise Smith

Hannah Straw

Maria Tauber

Dr Nishpriha Thakur

Prof Mathew Thomson

Millie Tissut

Valentina Tomasetti

Dr Lucy Underwood

Dr Charles Walton

Dr Callie Wilkinson