Police Get Sweeping New Powers to Tackle Government Dissent

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced sweeping new police powers to impose conditions on 'repeat protests' including the location, length, times, and even what can be said on a placard. Anyone failing to comply with the new law faces up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

In a letter from the Home Office, Ms Mahmood claimed that the country is facing "a period of heightened tensions and division" and the changes were needed to "tackle the repeated disruptive protests we have seen".

Going on to say: "Through the Crime and Policing Bill, we will amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to allow senior officers to consider the cumulative impact of protests on local communities when they are imposing conditions on public processions and assemblies."

"This will allow you more flexibility to prevent disruptive protests from attending the same location and instruct organisers to move to a different site."

The new powers, which will be brought forward as soon as possible, will allow senior officers to consider the ‘cumulative impact’ of previous protest activity. Once they have determined that a protest has had a cumulative impact they can issue a section 14 diktat to justify the mass-arrests of protestors.

Prison for failure to comply.

The changes will amend sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act of 1986, under which anyone breaching conditions set by police faces up to six months in prison, an unlimited fine, or both.

"Fundamental freedom"

Ms Mahmood said: “The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country. However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear.

The Home Office said she would encourage Police to “use the full range of powers available to them to prevent and respond to public disorder”.

Ms Mahmood said: “Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes."

"Powers to ban protests outright"

The Home Office released a chilling statement saying:

Police forces will be granted new powers to put conditions on repeat protests as the Home Secretary orders a fresh look at how protests are policed and organised.

The new powers, which will be brought forward as soon as possible, will allow senior officers to consider the ‘cumulative impact’ of previous protest activity.  If a protest has taken place at the same site for weeks on end, and caused repeated disorder, the police will have the authority to, for example, instruct organisers to hold the event somewhere else. Anyone who breaches the conditions will risk arrest and prosecution.

The Home Secretary will also review existing legislation to ensure that powers are sufficient and being consistently applied. This will include powers to ban protests outright, and will also include provisions in the Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently going through Parliament.

Although these new laws were announced following a demonstration by Palestine Action they have secretly been months in the planning. According to a Whitehall source, the law was drafted up long before Palestine Action was prescribed and has really been created as a direct response to repeated migrant hotel protests as we reported last month.

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