Editorial: The right to protest at Pride parades and elsewhere is a vital one

The concept of restricting protests to parades is not an unreasonable one. If there were no restrictions whatsoever at parade in which both the parade and protest were large in scale, then chaos could ensue.

There is a real risk, however, that sentiments have changed so quickly with regard to expressions of thinking and culture that might be described as 'woke' that the right to protest against them is too readily curbed.

Woke is a new term, and many older people are still unfamiliar with it, but it emerged from people who emphasised the need to be aware of racial discrimination, then widened it to include prejudice against other minority or perceived vulnerable groups. But while the aim was laudable, the scope of woke has mushroomed, so that, for example, the late Pastor James McConnell was put in the dock for a mildly anti Islamic and rather tasteless sermon, after a complaint from a Muslim immigrant to Northern Ireland who praised the 'peace' brought about in the Iraqi city of Mosul by extremist Isis mass murderers. How farcical that a complaint from someone who expressed such a repugnant view led to the trial of someone else who had expressed a less repellent view. Such thinking has also led to preachers who are blunt, maybe even tactless, being accused of hate crimes. And it has led to severe restrictions on protests outside abortion clinics.

Some thin skinned defenders of woke ideals would prohibit any protests at all, considering such to be bigoted. After all, critics of woke thinking are often denied a platform in places such as universities, which should be crucibles of debate. So there is a need for vigilance about curbs on protest at Foyle Pride and elsewhere.