Police will be given new powers to combat threatening protestors

Credit: Just Stop Oil

Police are to be given new powers that will allow them to arrest protesters who wear threatening face coverings and use pyrotechnics, the Home Office have confirmed today. This, they say, is to help "crack down on dangerous disorder".

The Home Office also says that with these new laws, protesters won't be able to cite the right to protest as a reasonable excuse to "get away with" disruptive offences, such as blocking roads, which has become a more popular way of protesting in recent years.

Police already have powers to ask members of the public to remove face coverings at designated protests, but the Home Office hope these new laws will "empower officers to arrest individuals who disregard their orders". The potential result could be one month in prison, and a £1,000 fine.

The possession of flares, fireworks, and any other pyrotechnics at public protests will also be made illegal. Perpetrators may be forced to pay a £1,000 fine if found guilty.

The measures, which will be introduced in the Criminal Justice Bill, will also make climbing on war memorials a specific public order offence, carrying a 3 month sentence and a £1,000 fine.

This news comes days after Greta Thunberg was found not guilty ailing to follow police instructions as they were told to move on during a climate change protest at a hotel in Mayfair.

James Cleverly, Home Secretary, said in a statement: "The right to protest is paramount in our county, but taking flares to marches to cause damage and disruption is not protest, it is dangerous. That is why we are giving police the powers to prevent any of this criminality on our streets."

National Police Chiefs' Council Lead for Public Order, BJ Harrington said: "These changes are in line with conversations that we have had with the Home Office to ensure that we have the powers that we need to get balance right between the rights of those who wish to protest, and those impacted by them.

"Thankfully, the use of flares and pyrotechnics at public order events is rare, but they are still extremely dangerous. Safety is our number one concern when policing these events, and the effective banning of these items during protests can only help in our mission to ensure that they take place without anyone coming to any harm."

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign who have been organising protests in recent weeks and months said: "The Government proposals to extend police powers are further evidence of its increasingly repressive attitude to the right of protest as a whole."

He continued: "There is no justification for these measures, and they are likely to criminalise people simply for exercising their rights. The right to protest is not a gift of the Government but rather a fundamental democratic entitlement. No Government truly committed to democratic freedoms would introduce restrictive measures over the right to protest without compelling and evidenced reasons to do so."