The government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will make fresh ideas to stifle protests public on Monday, expanding the range of circumstances in which police may intervene to avert significant disruption.
Recent protests, generally related to environmental issues, have shut down significant portions of central London and slowed down traffic on major thoroughfares, prompting requests for the police to be given more authority to put an end to the disturbances.
In 2022, the government passed measures to combat this, but it intends to take things a step further with the Public Order Bill, a new set of laws.
The legislation was released last year and is currently being debated in parliament. Civil rights organisations have harshly criticised it, claiming it is anti-democratic and gives police excessive power.
Before the Public Order Bill becomes law, the administration intends to make changes to it in order to clarify when the new powers may be used, allow police additional latitude, and extend the legal definition of what constitutes ‘severe disruption.’
Sunak stated in a statement late on Sunday that ‘the right to protest is a fundamental principle of our democracy, but this is not absolute.’
‘We cannot allow a small minority to disrupt the daily life of the general public through their protests. It’s unacceptable, and we’ll bring it to an end.’
If the new laws are approved, the government claims that police will be able to preventively put an end to disruptive protests.
In addition to allowing courts to limit some protestors’ freedoms in order to prevent them from seriously disrupting public order, the measure already includes provisions to make it a crime for people to attempt to lock themselves to objects or structures.
It expands upon the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, which was passed in April 2022 and was the subject of numerous sizable ‘kill the bill’ demonstrations.
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