We Do Not Consent: Policing, Protest and the Pandemic

Jeremy Jeffs in depth look at the protests and demonstrations that took place in London during Covid lock downs.

02 Aug 2022

"Between May 2020 and May 2021, I took photographs of more than 27 demonstrations across London. On some days, I photographed at more than one demonstration, moving between two or three merging events, making it hard to be precise about the number photographed. "Whilst many protests were against the imposition of Covid measures, many more were focused on issues such as climate change, Palestine, food standards and the right to protest itself."

We Do Not Consent is an in depth look by documentary filmmaker and photographer Jeremy Jeffs at the protests and demonstrations that took place in London during Covid lock downs.

Released by publishers Fistful of Books, it’s a sobering look at how the police are using increasing levels of force to keep people in line and examines the behaviour of sometimes angry crowds, and the tactics that the police used to control them.

We Do Not Consent which contains 43 impactful black and white photographs spread across 90 pages started as a cry of defiance from angry anti-lock down protestors confronting heavy handed policing with an often violent response. But in the aftermath of the murder of Sarah Everard at the hands of a police officer, and the authoritarian proposals of the Police, Crime and Sentencing Bill, the slogan took on a more considered meaning.

Shot on the streets of London as a black and white documentary project, this photo book covers the protests that made headlines during the period May 2020 to May 2021 when despite lock down laws making protest virtually illegal, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest Black Lives Matter, the murder of Sarah Everard and the Anti-Vaxx movement.

It also reveals what happened at other equally volatile protest including clashes between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups, and what happened when Nigerian anti-corruption protestors met supporters of British Farming.

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