Member

To those who cry, as they did in Committee, “If you’ve done nothing wrong then you should have nothing to hide. Why would you wear a face covering?”, I suggest they have never worked in one of the many public sector workplaces where having the wrong opinions can lead you to be disciplined or treated with social ostracism. Try being a gender-critical feminist academic going on a demo without having your face covered; you might find yourself on the wrong side of academia when you go back to work. They have never been the victim of stalking or harassment and so wanted to conceal themselves when on a public protest that could, by the way, be filmed by the mainstream media or livestreamed by phone. They have never had to defy their strict community or religious strictures or prohibitions, or have never been a transnational dissident taking on the Iranian or the Chinese regime.