Powers designed to combat terrorism have been repeatedly misused to curb peaceful protest, a new report from Amnesty International has found. A right not a threat: Disproportionate restrictions on demonstrations under the State of Emergency in France reveals that hundreds of unjustified measures restricting freedom of movement and the right to peaceful assembly have been issued under the guise of countering terrorism. “ Emergency laws intended to protect the French people from the threat of terrorism are instead being used to restrict their rights to protest peacefully ,” said Marco Perolini, Amnesty International’s researcher on France. “ Under the cover of the state of emergency, rights to protest have been stripped away with hundreds of activists, environmentalists, and labour rights campaigners unjustifiably banned from participating in protests. ” Following the horrific Paris attacks on 13 November 2015, France’s state of emergency, introduced a da