Police could be given new powers to stop protests

Police in England and Wales could be granted powers to intervene at protests before they become highly disruptive, under a new amendment to the Public Order Bill introduced to the British Parliament on Monday.

The legislation relates to incidents such as attempted blocking of roads or deliberate slow marching, non-violent tactics that have been used to great effect by environment protests group such as Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said although the right to protest "is a fundamental principle of our democracy… this is not absolute. A balance must be struck between the rights of individuals and the rights of the hard-working majority to go about their day-to-day business."

Under the new proposals, police would be able to regard a series of incidents involving the same group not as standalone events, but as part of a concerted effort, judging their overall impact, and the consequences of longer-term campaigns causing repeated disruption would also be considered.

"The police asked us for more clarity to crack down on these guerrilla tactics, and we have listened," Sunak added.

London's highest-ranking police officer, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Mark Rowley, denied having sought any extension of or addition to existing police powers, "but (we) have asked for legal clarity about where the balance of rights should be struck … I welcome the Government's proposal to introduce a legal definition of 'serious disruption' and 'reasonable excuse'".

This, he said "will create a clearer line for the police to enforce when protests impact upon others who simply wish to go about their lawful business".

Chief Constable BJ Harrington of the National Police Chiefs' Council also backed the plans. He said: "This will support officers in confidently and quickly taking action and making arrests where appropriate."

Sarah Jones, shadow policing minister for the opposition Labour Party, said her party backed the police having powers "to deal with dangerous, disruptive protests," but accused the government of having a "shameful record prosecuting criminals" and said Sunak was doing Home Secretary Suella Braverman's job for her.

Civil liberties groups greeted the proposals with dismay.

Martha Spurrier, director of human rights group Liberty, called the proposals "a desperate attempt to shut down any route for ordinary people to make their voices heard.

"Allowing the police to shut down protests before any disruption has taken place simply on the off — chance that it might sets a dangerous precedent, not to mention making the job of officers policing protests much more complex," she added.

Her predecessor at Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti, who is now a member of the House of Lords, said police could effectively be given "a blank cheque" on how they responded to protests.

"This, I fear, is about treating all peaceful dissent as effectively terrorism," she told the BBC.

"This degree of pre-emption will basically shut down the kind of dissent that isn't even causing disruption at all because their definition will set such a low bar."