Priti Patel calls for ‘balance of rights’ between protesters and individuals as she introduces protest crackdown
Priti Patel has told MPs that “there is a balance to be struck” between the rights of protesters and individuals as she today introduced new legislation that will crackdown on some form of protesting.
The new Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill, if passed into law, will give the police powers to set start and end times to static protests and stop protests if they are too noisy or too “disruptive”.
Fines of up to £2,500 will be given out for noncompliance as a part of the proposed new laws, which the home secretary says were brought in to counter Extinction Rebellion-type protesters.
The new legislation will also give out prison senteces of up to 10 years for defacing statues, memorials or grave sites.
The bill comes just days after the Metropolitan Police were widely criticised for forcefully breaking up a peaceful vigil for deceased 33-year-old Sarah Everard on Saturday.
Patel said the new laws were not intended to break up these sort of events.
“There is a balance to be struck between the rights of a protester and the rights of an indiviudal to go about their daily lives,” she told MPs.
“The current legislation police use to manage protests, the Public Order Act of 1986, was enacted over 30 years ago.
“In recent years we have seen a significant change in protest tactics, with protesters exploiting gaps in the law, which have led to disproportionate amounts of disruption.”
Labour will not vote for the new legislation, with shadow home secretary Nick Thomas-Symonds telling MPs that it threatened people’s right to protest.
“The scenes from Saturday should be a red warning signal to this house that rushing through ill-judged, ill thought our restrictions on the right to protest would be a profound mistake that would have long lasting consequences and to great damage to our democracy,” he said.
“The right to protest is the cornerstone of our democracy.”