The right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy – it must not be taken away

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We should be very much on our guard about our democratic right to protest (Getty)

Rishi Sunak’s insidious use of the word “mob” to describe large protests is very worrying.  Perhaps I, as a resident of a quiet village in Oxfordshire, cannot judge but news coverage of the protests surrounding the crisis in Gaza has shown large but orderly crowds, not violent mobs.

The increasing technique of routinely branding protests as mobs, or mob rule, is very worrying. Of course, the threatening of politicians, or anyone else, is wholly wrong but we should be very much on our guard about our democratic right to protest, an absolutely fundamental part of democracy.

We must recognise the strategy behind the cunning conflation of a “mob” with ordinary citizens who are sufficiently concerned about an issue to join a protest in the hope of drawing attention to a cause, and having some influence over events.