'I felt elated that I'd done something': first-time activists on a year of protest

From the Women's March to Brexit, in 2017 many people took to the streets for the first time. Four new protesters reveal their reasons

There is a saying known as the Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times." Its origins are hazy, and not rooted in ancient Chinese wisdom, but it gets repeated in times of turbulence. Robert Kennedy famously used it in a speech to students in Cape Town in 1966, when he called on them to find "common qualities of conscience and indignation" to "wipe away the unnecessary sufferings of our fellow human beings at home and around the world".

And here we are again, in interesting times, rediscovering our consciences and indignation. From the sea of pussyhats that descended on Whitehall for the Women's March in January to the public figures felled by #metoo, this has been a year of protest. Grassroots movements took on the establishment in a surprise general election, driving an even more surprising result. Across the country, more and more of us decided that this was the year we would take a stand.