Though the Tory leader will try to exploit the Stop the Coup demonstrations, our democracy must be defended

The protest that took place last Wednesday evening, on the day the prime minister prorogued parliament, was part-organised by Another Europe is Possible. I was on the conference-call planning it, and we argued about whether or not “coup” was the right word, whether to start at 5pm or 6pm, whether to protest daily or concentrate on the Saturday. We talked about demo-fatigue and sound systems, the far right – who, inexplicably, were marched by police straight through the #StopTheCoup march at the weekend – but nobody argued about whether or not we should be protesting.

The debate on our current crisis has concentrated on proroguing, but it is no more than the instrument of what has occurred: the executive has moved against the parliament. Not tricked it, outwitted it, bullied it, or won it round – moved explicitly against it. You cannot find precedent for this in the debates surrounding the Falklands war, or the national government of 1931; you’re squarely on the territory of the English civil war. To watch it happen and accede to it with silence would be unpatriotic, an act of bad citizenship.