On December 30, opposition parties and 27 civil society organizations launched a national campaign to collect signatures in support of a referendum on 133 of the 476 articles of the Law of Urgent Consideration (LUC) sanctioned in July 2020 which campaign organizers have decried as ‘power grabbing and repressive”. To achieve this, they face the daunting task of gathering 700,000 signatures, which equates to 25% of citizens eligible to vote. 

The LUC is an “omnibus law” and the first legislative milestone of Uruguayan President Luis Lacalle Pou. It regulates everything from financial inclusion to reforms in the Penal Code, affecting the rights of citizens to strike and protest. 

Among the most controversial aspects are the extension of the concept of police legitimate self-defense, the obligation of individuals to identify themselves when required by the police and the declaration of illegitimacy of picketing in public or private spaces hindering free movement of people, goods or services. This last point limits, in practice, the right to strike by authorizing the police to disband picketers by force if need be.