A/76/302 property destruction. 25 In some States, some public officials have taken action to punish or chill the right to peaceful protest. In the United States, several laws were passed in response to protests with language adequately broad to meaningfully infringe on the right to peaceful assembly and protest. 26 In France, a global security bill seeks to respond to civilian protests, for example the gilets jaunes, with broad licence to chill peaceful assembly and protest for people of African descent, including prohibiting the dissemination of images of police officers engaged in public misconduct; enhanced facial recognition technology; increasing privatized policing; dissolving associations for lawful defence of human rights; and targeting funding of non-governmental organizations. In Colombia, the use of tear gas and anti -riot policing measures left many with ongoing and chronic injuries, as well as exacerbated fear and distrust in the community. Combined with the pandemic being cited as a basis to limit freedom of movement and freedom of assembly, the very people at the highest risk during the pandemic were also facing the harshest human rights ab uses. 44. In addition, widespread information and awareness-raising activities did not always improve the public understanding of the drivers and legacies of systemic racism in some States where serious incidents of police violence against people of African descent had been reported and amplified by civil society and local communities. For example, despite awareness-raising protests highlighting the deaths of Adama Traoré and others at the hands of the police, an overwhelming majority of people in France, Germany and the United Kingdom reported their belief that there was no more racism among the police than in other professional circles, and public confidence in the police remained high, with only 18 per cent of respondents reporting a belief that there was more racism among the police than in other professions. 27 Although that number was nearly doubled among young people in the three countries, that data point may reflect how public opinion has resisted rather than accepted the pervasive systemic racism, particularly in the absence of adequate, relevant disaggregated data to illustrate the realities of people of African descent. 45. Amplifying discourse on systemic racism has not necessarily affected decision making outside of policing either. In London, in March 2021, students at a private school protested against a ban on afro haircuts, which alleged that the natural hair of people of African descent could inappropriately block the view of other pupils in __________________ 25 26 27 14/22 Neil MacFarquhar, “Many claim extremists are sparking protest violence. But which extremists?”, The New York Times, 22 June 2020; Mia Bloom, “Far-right infiltrators and agitators in George Floyd protests: indicators of white supremacists”, Just Securit y, 30 May 2020. In the United States, see e.g. Florida HB 1/SB 484 (2021) (expanded definition of “riot” and new penalties for protesters); Oklahoma HB 1674 (2021) (penalties for protesters who block traffic, immunity for drivers who hit protesters, and liability for organizations that work with protesters); Tennessee SB 0902 (2019) (new penalties for protesters who block traffic) and HB 8005/SB 8005 (2020) (heightened penalties for “inconvenient” protests, whereby protesters who obstruct or make it “unreasonably inconvenient” to use a street or sidewalk could face up to one year in jail); North Dakota HB 1304 (2020) (new penalties for protesters who conceal their identity with masks, hoods or other device that “conceals any portion” of an individual’s f ace while committing a criminal offence, e.g. jaywalking, in order to avoid recognition or identification); West Virginia HB 4618 (2018) (eliminating police liability for deaths while dispersing riots and unlawful assemblies; and if a bystander is asked to assist in the dispersal and fails to do so, he or she “shall be deemed a rioter”); Utah SB 173 (2020) (criminal penalties for protests that disturb legislative or other government meetings; expanding “disorderly conduct” to include recklessly causing public inconvenience from “unreasonable noises” that can be heard at an official meeting or obstructing pedestrian traffic or refusing to leave an official meeting when asked by law enforcement). See www.icnl.org/usprotestlawtracker/?location=&status=enacted&issue= &date=&type=. Guillaume Farde and Floriane Labarussiat, “La confiance police -population en 2021: le décrochage des 18–24 ans”, note de recherche, Baromètre de la confiance politique (Sciences Po CEVIPOF, 2021). Available at www.sciencespo.fr/cevipof/sites/sciencespo.fr.cevipof/files/ NoteBaroV12_GF%26FL_confiancepolice_mars2021_Versionfinale2.pdf . 21-11641