UK: Court Rules New Police Powers to Curb Protests Are Unlawful

Facts

• An attempt by the UK government to lower the threshold of when police can restrict peaceful protests was ruled unlawful in London's High Court on Tuesday.¹
• Civil rights group Liberty had challenged the government policy, which lowered the threshold for 'serious disruption' from 'significant' and 'prolonged' to 'more than minor.' The measures also allowed police to take into account 'any relevant cumulative disruption' of repeated protests.²
• The government had tried to approve the measures by legislation in parliament last year within the Public Order Bill, before failing the House of Lords by a margin of 254-240 votes and then being introduced instead as a 'statutory instrument.'³
• Judges Nicholas Green and Timothy Kerr concluded that they were 'concerned' with the Home Office's ability to achieve government objectives via secondary legislation, while the policy's consultation process was not deemed fair.⁴
• Liberty described the judges' ruling as 'a victory for democracy.' Meanwhile, the Home Office, which enacted the statutory instrument, said it was 'disappointed,' before stating it would 'consider all other options to keep this important power for police.'⁵
• Separately, the government on Tuesday published a 291-page review that recommended 41 additional powers to police to curb protests. They included recommendations for banning face coverings and making organizers contribute to policing costs.⁶

Sources: ¹Reuters, ²Evening Standard, ³Sky News, ⁴judiciary.uk, ⁵BBC News and ⁶Financial Times.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Homeofficemedia. The right to process is a vital part of democracy. However, we have seen on too many occasions that the actions of extremists go beyond what can be defined as peaceful protest, and police have been restricted by insufficient powers to respond. These measures are intended to protect democratic processes from disruption and intimidation.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Liberty. The court's ruling to quash the government's attempt to introduce more police powers to crack down on protests through the backdoor is a win for democracy and greatly welcomed. The government should listen to the complaints of protestors rather than seek to have them shut down and arrested.

Predictions