Netpol Protests Advisory: Get organised to defend dissent
New sweeping anti-protest laws have come into force, through the Public Order Act (May 2023) and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act (April 2022). Many of the new powers are poorly defined, with the Home Secretary having powers to regulate the meaning of “serious disruption.” In practice, the police themselves will often be able to decide when and how to impose conditions, opening the door for widespread abuse.
This means that protesters, especially if they are near a business or a public building, may find themselves facing threats of arrest in circumstances that they have not previously encountered.
It’s vital that we resist these new police powers. Netpol will support grassroots groups as they face these new police powers, working to provide information and resources and looking for ways to challenge the policing of demonstrations in the courts and on the streets.
A last-minute concession offered by the government was for the Home Secretary to “prepare and publish a report” on the way new powers are used.
But with so much confusion from police, government and officials on how the new powers will be used, we need to build up our own body of evidence on the way police powers are misused and freedom of assembly rights are violated.
Know Your Rights for everyone!
New police powers were introduced primarily to disrupt and further criminalise campaigners who use direct action or civil disobedience tactics, which can mean something as simple as blocking a road.
This means groups who adopt these tactics need to ensure, before organising a protest, that they know what these changes to the law mean.
You may also want to arrange to have Legal Observers at your demonstration and have conversations in your group about what to do if someone is arrested.
