Stop the Coup protests have echo of Chartists call for democracy on 12th June 1848
Protests are nothing unusual in modern Britain (before 1968 they actually were fairly unusual in most periods).
The protests at Prime Minister Johnson’s attempt to prorogue Parliament for extended period to avoid scrutiny and democratic accountability for his actions on 31st August were unusual because of their breadth.
With trains and coaches many large protests are held in central London. Sometimes there are parallel demonstrations in Cardiff and Glasgow or Edinburgh. What remains the largest post-1945 demonstration in Britain, that against the Iraq War on 15th February 2003, was one of a series around the world on that day, but the only one in the UK.
The Johnson protest in London was large but there were also significant protests right across the UK. In the days of social media one can get a sense of this, the numbers and characters of those attending. Notable perhaps were significant numbers of home-made placards, some Labour banners and in some locations union ones.
Comparisons with such a breadth of protest are not so easy to locate. It is reported that around 80 protests took place across the country.
One is the Chartists on Whit Monday June 12th 1848. They were actually about a rather similar issue. The Chartist petition for the vote on 10th April 1848 having been dismissed by Parliament, the Government had opined that no one much was interested in an extension of democracy anyway.
The Chartists did not agree and as the Northern Star 17th June 1848 reported on its front page meetings were held across the UK to demand the vote.
The State’s reaction to the London meeting was rather more robust than it has been on 31st August
A denial of democratic rights whether in 1848 or 2019 does motivate a popular defence of the same
There was more than one UK demo on Feb 15th 2003. The Labour Party had a conference in Glasgow that day. So on that we had over 100,000. Also, I am sure Inverness and Orkney had something.