Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
New powers for police after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
- The Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, announced new police powers to restrict repeated protests, citing "considerable fear" within the Jewish community.
- This announcement followed the arrest of 492 people at a Palestine Action demonstration in London, which went ahead despite calls for its cancellation after a terror attack in Manchester.
- The new measures will amend the Public Order Act 1986 to allow police to consider the cumulative impact of frequent protests and will include a review of powers to ban protests outright.
- Politicians and police chiefs had urged protesters to respect the grief of British Jews following the Manchester synagogue attack, which killed two people.
- Amnesty International criticised the arrests at the London protest, stating that detaining people "peacefully sitting down" breaches the UK's human rights obligations.