LONDON (Reuters) -British police will get powers to restrict repeat protests held in the same place, the government said on Sunday, a day after the latest pro-Palestinian demonstration went ahead despite requests to cancel it in the wake of a deadly attack at a synagogue.
The new powers will allow senior police officers to consider the cumulative impact of previous protests on a local community, the interior ministry 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,” Interior Minister Shabana Mahmood said.
“Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes,” Mahmood said, noting the fears within the Jewish community.
On Saturday, police arrested almost 500 people in central London during a protest in support of Palestine Action, a group that was banned in July after members broke into an air base and damaged military planes.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had urged organisers to call off the demonstration following the killing of two people at a synagogue in Manchester on Thursday on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews.
Police shot dead the assailant, a British man of Syrian descent who officials said may have been inspired by extremist Islamist ideology.
The group behind Saturday’s protest said the plans for more powers to limit demonstrations represented “a dangerous, authoritarian escalation” in a crackdown on free speech.
“We are announcing a major escalation … and we urge all of our supporters to sign up to show we will not stand by as our fundamental rights are stripped away,” a spokesperson for Defend Our Juries said.
The Board of Deputies of British Jews welcomed the government’s announcement but said more action was needed to protect the Jewish community.
Mahmood is also due to review the police’s existing powers to ensure they are sufficient and consistently applied, including powers to ban protests outright, the interior ministry said in a statement.
(Writing by William Schomberg; Editing by Jamie Freed and Tomasz Janowski)
