On the afternoon of 21 March 2021, Fleur Moody hurried through the graffiti-sprayed backstreets of Bristol. She and her partner were on their way to join a march against proposed laws that would give the police extensive new powers to clamp down on protests. They caught up with the march just before it streamed into a park overlooking the city’s harbour.
Moody, who was 26 at the time, was getting her life back on track after years of mental health problems and addiction. She sat on the grass with friends sharing food and drinks in the last of the sunshine. “I was quite fragile,” she told me recently. “But I’ve always believed people have a right to protest and have their voices heard.”
