Ministers are to give police new powers to target repeated protests, aimed particularly at cracking down on demonstrations connected to Gaza, the Home Office has said.
The announcement, made the morning after almost 500 people were arrested in London for expressing support for Palestine Action, a proscribed organisation, could allow police to order regular protests to take place at a different site.
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, will also look at all anti-protest laws, with the possibility that powers to ban some protests outright could be strengthened.
Under the planned powers, Mahmood will push through rapid changes to the Public Order Act 1986, allowing police to consider the “cumulative impact” of repeated protests. Details will be set out “in due course”, the announcement said.
If a protest has caused what a Home Office statement called “repeated disorder” at the same site for repeated weeks, police would be able to order the organisers to move it elsewhere, with anyone who fails to obey risking arrest.
Mahmood, the statement added, would “also review existing legislation to ensure that powers are sufficient and being consistently applied”, including police powers to ban some protests completely.
Mahmood said: “The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear.
“Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes. This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.
“These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest while ensuring all feel safe in this country.”
The broader powers appear to be aimed at both mass pro-Gaza demonstrations, which took place in London and some other cities over a period of weeks, and those held to support Palestine Action.
On Saturday, police arrested about 500 people at the latest such protest. It took place despite ministers, including Keir Starmer, asking that it be postponed following this week’s deadly attack on a synagogue in Manchester.
After Saturday’s protest, the chair of the Metropolitan police federation said officers policing protests in London were “emotionally and physically exhausted”.
Paula Dodds said: “Enough is enough. Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. And instead officers are being drawn in to facilitate these relentless protests.”
It follows protest-related measures in the crime and policing bill going through parliament, which bans the possession of face coverings or fireworks or flares at protests, and criminalises the climbing of certain war memorials.
