Police have been granted new powers to impose conditions on repeat protests to “close a gap in the law”, the home secretary has said.
Shabana Mahmood told Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips that the changes, announced earlier this morning, would allow communities to “go about their daily business without feeling intimidated”.
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It follows the arrests of nearly 500 people during demonstrations in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action in central London on Saturday.
Protesters defied calls to rethink the event in the wake of the Manchester synagogue terror attack on Thursday, in which two Jewish worshippers were killed.
The new powers will allow police forces to consider the “cumulative impact” of protests, assessing previous activity, when deciding to impose limits on protesters.
The limits that could be imposed include moving demonstrators to a different place or “restricting the time that those protests can occur”, Ms Mahmood said.
She added: “It’s been clear to me in conversations in the last couple of days that there is a gap in the law and there is an inconsistency of practice.
“So I’ll be taking measures immediately to put that right and I will be reviewing our wider protest legislation as well, to make sure the arrangements we have can meet the scale of the challenge that we face.”
A demonstration supporting Palestine Action on Saturday in central London. Pic: Reuters
Police officers detain a protester during the mass protest. Pic: Reuters
The changes will be made through amendments to the Public Order Act, and anyone who breaches the new conditions will risk arrest and prosecution.
Earlier, Ms Mahmood said the right to protest was a “fundamental freedom” but this must be balanced “with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear”.
In a statement she said: “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.”
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Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said her party will “of course support” the new measures but asked why it took “so long” for them to be introduced.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, she claimed that what happened in Manchester was foreseeable and not enough has been done to address fears over safety in the Jewish community.
Ms Mahmood addressed the Jewish communities’ concerns after being shown a clip of deputy prime minister David Lammy being heckled at a vigil on Friday.
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Home secretary reacts to moment Lammy was heckled
She told Sky News’ Trevor Phillips the government “of course” hears their strength of feeling and is “committed to dealing with antisemitism in all of its forms”, pointing to the “strengthening” of police powers announced today.
Asked if the reaction to Mr Lammy reflected anger at the government’s decision to recognise a Palestine state, she said it was important not to “elide” Thursday’s attack with the situation in the Middle East.
“People are entitled to their views and of course we were there to hear those views. What I would say is that the attack that took place, the person that’s responsible for that attack is the attacker himself,” she said.
“And, of course, four other people are in custody and the police investigation does need to take its course. It’s important that we don’t elide that into the wider questions of what’s going on in the Middle East.”
