In pictures: What does a protest look like in modern Britain?

Big Issue Changemaker Marc Davenant’s latest photo series is taking aim at peaceful protests on Britain’s streets at a time when it is becoming increasingly under attack.

Davenant has spent 13 years chronicling demonstrations across the country as the new legislation has extended police powers to crackdown on protesters.

His Rebellion! exhibition is currently showing at Newcastle City Library until 31 August before touring around the UK, showcasing Davenant’s photos included interviews with protesters and those impacted by the protests.

The exhibition explores why people protest as well as documented the impact of deindustrialisation on communities in the North of England left behind successive governments.

“Rebellion! is a celebration of protest as an essential part of our cultural identity,” said Davenant. 

He added: “Now, with the passing of increasingly draconian anti-protest legislation, the right to protest is under threat like never before.”

Davenant’s photos capture the Palestine Action and climate change protests as well as activism calling for the right to roam and anti-immigration protests as well as marches supporting the UK Independence Party.

He recently covered a long-running strike at the National Coal Mining Museum in Wakefield, which ended in April when a pay deal was reached.

Big Issue named Davenant as one of its 2026 Changemakers at the start of the year. That came after he documented the state of homelessness in the UK with his Outsiders project and covered a homeless encampment being broken up in London at the end of 2025.

Davenant turned his attention to protest as successive governments passed laws making activism more difficult, such as the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023.

The current Labour government’s Crime and Policing Act bans the deliberate use of face coverings to conceal a person’s identity during a protest, and the possession of fireworks, flares and other pyrotechnics at protests.

Ministers said they “fully support the right of individuals to engage in peaceful protest” but took action over “a rise in disruptive and dangerous tactics used during protests”.

Davenant said his photos capture the reasons why protests continue in the face of growing opposition.

“My concern is with the incremental erosion of the right to peaceful protest by successive governments. The main problem with the government’s new legislation is the requirement to consider the cumulative impact of protests,” said Davenant.

“This effectively means an unelected police official can severely restrict peaceful protests based on other unrelated protests in the past. I do not believe that the final arbiter of who can and cannot protest should be an unelected police official, especially given their historic issues with racism, misogyny and issuing misleading public statements. Peaceful protest is a precious flame to be nurtured against those who would casually snuff it out.”

For more details on where Rebellion! will be showing, head to Marc Davenant’s website.

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