SOCIAL DEMOCRATS = SOCIAL FASCISTS
JILL LAWLESS
Sun, October 5, 2025
Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Police remove a protester after a banner was unfurled on Westminster Bridge, London, as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action, Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
People take part in a demonstration organized by GM Friends of Palestine at Manchester Cathedral, in Manchester, England, Saturday, Oct. 4 2025. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
LONDON (AP) — British police will get stronger powers to restrict repeated protests, the government said Sunday, after almost 500 people were arrested at a demonstration in support of a banned pro-Palestinian group.
The Home Office said police forces will be able to consider the “cumulative impact of frequent protests” on local areas when they impose conditions on marches and demonstrations.
“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. “However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbors to live their lives without fear. Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held regularly since the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry that is part of the Hamas-run government. The U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some people say they have allowed antisemitism to spread. Some Jews say they feel threatened by chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” A handful of pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested for supporting Hamas, which is banned in the U.K.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters have frequently accused critics of Israel or its conduct of the war in Gaza of antisemitism. Israel’s detractors see it as an attempt to stifle even legitimate criticism.
British police and politicians had urged protesters to stay home this weekend after Thursday's attack on a synagogue in Manchester that left two Jewish men dead. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that organizers should “recognize and respect the grief of British Jews this week” and postpone.
But on Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest against the banning of Palestine Action, a direct-action group that has vandalized British military planes and targeted sites with links to the Israeli military. It has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government, making support for the group illegal.
Critics say the government is restricting free speech and the right to protest.
Police officers carried away a number of people who sat silently holding signs saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Police said they made 488 arrests for supporting the outlawed organization, and a handful for other offenses.
More than 2,000 people have now been arrested at protests since Palestine Action was proscribed in July, and more than 130 charged with terrorism offenses.
The war in the Palestinian enclave was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Southern Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage. The Palestinian militant group said Saturday it was willing to return all remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, and the bodies of the dead in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
UK police to get new powers after latest pro-Palestinian protest
Reuters
Sun, October 5, 2025
Police officers detain a protester, during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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.
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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)
Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
Kate Devlin
Sun, October 5, 2025
THE INDEPENDENT
Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
Police are to be given greater powers to restrict repeated protests, the home secretary has announced, hours after hundreds were arrested at a Palestine Action demonstration in London.
The event went ahead despite calls from Keir Starmer and others in the wake of the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester during which two people were killed.
The home secretary Shabana Mahmood said repeated large-scale protests had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.
Palestine Action protest (Reuters)
She 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.
"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.
"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.
"These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest while ensuring all feel safe in this country."
In the wake of the arrests in London on Saturday, Amnesty International said it should not be the job of the police to arrest people “peacefully sitting down”, and that the arrests amounted to a breach of the UK’s human rights obligations.
As part of the new crackdown ministers will amend Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to explicitly allow the police to take account of the cumulative impact of frequent protests on local areas.
The home secretary will also review existing legislation to ensure powers are both sufficient and being applied consistently by police forces – this will include powers to ban protests outright.
In response, the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked: “What took them so long?”
She also said pro-Palestine demonstrators were abusing their right to protest and that many people at the marches are "actually out to intimidate Jews".
But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said: "People spreading antisemitic hate and inciting violence against Jews are getting away with it, and we fear the government’s approach will do nothing to tackle that while undermining the fundamental right to peaceful protest.”
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined the proposals (PA)
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, said the move was one they had called for for months.
He said the change was “a necessary start. We have been calling for this for many months, and it was one of our key demands in the meeting with the prime minister and home secretary on Friday. But the government now needs to go further. We will work with them to ensure that these and other measures are as effective as possible in protecting our community.”
On Saturday officers arrested hundreds of people at a Palestine Action protest in London, days after the Manchester synagogue attack.
Met Police said 492 people were arrested at the protest in support the proscribed group, which was classed by the UK government as a terror organisation earlier this year.
Most of the arrests were made at Trafalgar Square, where around 1,000 protesters sat silently, some holding signs backing Palestine Action, despite calls from Sir Keir and police chiefs to stay away following the terror attack in Manchester.
The Met said many of those arrested had to be carried out of the square after refusing to walk, with each person taking up to five officers to move away safely. Some were pictured holding their hands in the air defiantly.
Paula Dodds, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers were “physically exhausted” but continue to be called on “to facilitate these relentless protests. And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?” she asked.
She added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hardworking police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.
“Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”
Event organiser Defend Our Juries said that among those arrested was 79-year-old Elizabeth Morley, a Jewish woman and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
In what it called the largest defiance of the ban on Palestine Action to date, people of a mixture of ages sat for the silent vigil, before taking out pens and writing signs in support of the group. Some read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
At the same time, around 100 people gathered in Manchester city centre for a similar demonstration, organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.
The prime minister had urged protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews”, while Jewish figures called the action “phenomenally tone deaf” after two people were killed in the attack in Manchester on Thursday.
Politicians and senior police officers also joined calls for the events not to go ahead. Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley warned the rallies would “likely create further tensions and some might say lack sensitivity” in the wake of the attack, while Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Stephen Watson urged would-be attendees to “consider whether this is really the right time”.
Sir Mark added that protests are “drawing valuable resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most”. Police forces have deployed extra officers to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the attack, with hundreds of extra officers around Manchester in particular.
Civil liberty groups express concern over plan for more anti-protest powers
Rajeev Syal,Peter Walker and Ben Quinn
Sun, October 5, 2025
THE GUARDIAN
Police officers take away a demonstrator in Trafalgar Square in central London on Saturday.Photograph: Krisztián Elek/Sopa Images/Shutterstock
Civil liberty groups have expressed concern over government plans to hand police greater powers to restrict protests as organisers of mass demonstrations against the banning of Palestine Action pledged a “major escalation” of their campaign.
Shabana Mahmood said on Sunday that repeated large-scale demonstrations over Gaza had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community in the wake of a fatal terror attack on a synagogue last week.
Under new powers, police will be able to impose tougher conditions on static protests or marches by taking account of the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations, she said.
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Following her statement, the pressure group Defend Our Juries promised to escalate the demonstrations in support of Palestine Action over 10 days in November. “The home secretary’s extraordinary new affront to our democracy will only fuel the growing backlash to the ban,” a spokesperson said.
The measures have been announced after almost 500 people were arrested this weekend in London for expressing support for Palestine Action. Jewish community leaders, police and Keir Starmer had called on Palestine Action protesters to refrain from demonstrating after Thursday’s killing of two people in the terror attack on a Manchester synagogue.
Mahmood will also look at all anti-protest laws, with the possibility that powers to ban some demonstrations outright could be strengthened.
Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and former shadow attorney general, warned that the government should pause before passing draconian powers that could end up in the hands of a Nigel Farage-led government.
“Street protest that isn’t a bit of a nuisance isn’t usually effective. But any government seeking to further restrict it should think about new powers in Farragist hands,” she said.
Two Labour MPs also expressed concern at the move. One told the Guardian: “However distasteful the protests in favour of Palestine Action have been, we must not fall into the trap of making rushed laws which can be used in future to stop justifiable protests.”
If a protest such as Saturday’s in support of Palestine Action takes place at the same site on several occasions, and causes repeated disorder, the police will get the power to instruct organisers to hold the event elsewhere, limit numbers and to set time limits, Home Office sources said.
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 jail, an unlimited fine, or both.
Speaking on Sunday to Sky News, Mahmood said she believed there was “a gap in the law” that required action, and she aimed to act at speed.
“What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption, that is to say the frequency of particular protests in particular places, is in and of itself, a reason for the police to be able to restrict and place conditions,” she said.
Speaking later to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mahmood denied this was about banning protest: “This is not about a ban. This is about restrictions and conditions that would enable the police to maybe put further time restrictions or move those protests to other places.
“What I’m allowing is for the police to be able to take cumulative disruption into account, and it is important.”
The Liberal Democrats warned that the plans for further protest restrictions would lead to a greater waste of police time while letting off those inciting violence.
Max Wilkinson, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives made a total mess of protest laws. I fear Labour seem to be following them down the same path, instead of properly reforming these powers to focus on the real criminals and hate preachers.”
The plans could be challenged in the courts because they mirror failed moves by the former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman to curb protests.
The court of appeal in June upheld the original judgment in what the civil rights organisation Liberty – which brought the legal challenge – hailed as a major legal victory.
The case centred on legislation passed in June 2023 – without a parliamentary vote – that reduced the threshold for when police could crack down on protests, meaning the law covered anything that was deemed as causing “more than minor” disruption. In May 2024, the high court agreed with Liberty that Braverman’s legislation had been unlawful.
Home Office sources pointed out that Liberty won the 2023 case because ministers tried to change the definition of “serious public disorder”, lowering it to cover any crime “more than minor” through a statutory instrument.
Officials believe the measures this time will be more robust because they are not trying to lower the threshold and are planning to use primary legislation.
Tom Southerden, a director at Amnesty International UK, said the government’s proposal was “ludicrous” and may be a “cynical” attempt to look tough.
Akiko Hart, Liberty’s director, said: “The police already have immense powers to restrict protests – handing them even more would undermine our rights further while failing to keep people safe from violence like the horrific and heartbreaking antisemitic attack in Manchester.”
Defend Our Juries said there would be mass civil disobedience defying the ban from 18 to 28 November, in the lead up to and throughout the judicial review.
In a letter to chief constables on Sunday, Mahmood warned that “the country faces a period of heightened tensions and division” and thanked police for their response to Thursday’s attack.
“I have confirmed the government will bring forward legislation to increase the powers available to you to tackle the repeated disruptive protests we have seen, and continue to provide the reassurance to communities that they need.
“And I will review more widely the full suite of public order legislation, to ensure that it keeps pace with the continued changes in the scale, nature and frequency of protests,” she wrote.
The planned new powers follow protest-related measures in the crime and policing bill going through parliament, which would ban the possession of face coverings or fireworks or flares at protests, and criminalise the climbing of certain war memorials.
UK police to get greater powers to restrict demos
AFP
Sun, October 5, 2025
A UK minister says pro-Palestinian protests have caused 'considerable fear' for the Jewish community (JUSTIN TALLIS)(JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/AFP)
UK police are to be given greater powers to restrict protests as a minister said repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.
The government initiative follows Thursday's deadly knife and car-ramming attack on a synagogue in the northwestern city of Manchester.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London went ahead on Saturday despite pleas from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the capital's Metropolitan Police to delay it.
The government said police would be authorised to consider the "cumulative impact" of protests when deciding to impose limits on protesters.
"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," Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement.
Over 1,000 people took part in Saturday's protest in London's Trafalgar Square, with nearly 500 people arrested for showing support for the banned Palestine Action campaign group.
Defend our Juries, a group that organises protests in support of Palestine Action, called the new measures an "extraordinary new affront to democracy" in a statement published Sunday.
It also announced that it would "escalate" its campaign to lift the ban ahead of a legal challenge in the High Court in November.
-'Solidarity' with Jewish community-
Organisers previously rejected calls not to gather, saying they "stood in solidarity" with the Jewish community over the Manchester attack, but that "cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win".
A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was booed at a vigil for the Jewish victims of the synagogue attack.
"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes," Mahmood said.
"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community."
Questioned by a BBC television interviewer about the Jewish community's repeated warnings about the dangers they face, Mahmood admitted she was "very worried about the state of community relations in our country".
The Home Secretary added, speaking to Times Radio, that there was a broad "problem of a rise not only in antisemitism but in other forms of hatred as well".
"There are clearly malign and dark forces running amok across our country," she said.
Police shot dead assailant Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old UK citizen of Syrian descent, within minutes of the alarm being raised on Thursday's synagogue attack.
One person was killed in the attack outside the synagogue in north Manchester. Another died after suffering a fatal gunshot, likely from armed officers as they tackled Al-Shamie.
Three people who were seriously injured remain in hospital, including one who is also believed to have been accidentally hit by police fire.
Counter terrorism police have been granted more time to detain four people arrested on suspicion of terrorism-linked offences over the incident.
The UK has seen repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel's retaliatory action in Gaza in which tens of thousands have died.
JILL LAWLESS
Sun, October 5, 2025
Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Police remove a protester taking part in a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action in Trafalgar Square, London Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
Police remove a protester after a banner was unfurled on Westminster Bridge, London, as part of a demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, in support of Palestine Action, Saturday Oct. 4, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
People take part in a demonstration organized by GM Friends of Palestine at Manchester Cathedral, in Manchester, England, Saturday, Oct. 4 2025. (Ryan Jenkinson/PA via AP)(ASSOCIATED PRESS)
LONDON (AP) — British police will get stronger powers to restrict repeated protests, the government said Sunday, after almost 500 people were arrested at a demonstration in support of a banned pro-Palestinian group.
The Home Office said police forces will be able to consider the “cumulative impact of frequent protests” on local areas when they impose conditions on marches and demonstrations.
“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said. “However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbors to live their lives without fear. Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.”
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations have been held regularly since the start of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 67,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry that is part of the Hamas-run government. The U.N. and many independent experts consider its figures to be the most reliable estimate of wartime casualties.
The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, but some people say they have allowed antisemitism to spread. Some Jews say they feel threatened by chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” A handful of pro-Palestinian protesters have been arrested for supporting Hamas, which is banned in the U.K.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters have frequently accused critics of Israel or its conduct of the war in Gaza of antisemitism. Israel’s detractors see it as an attempt to stifle even legitimate criticism.
British police and politicians had urged protesters to stay home this weekend after Thursday's attack on a synagogue in Manchester that left two Jewish men dead. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said that organizers should “recognize and respect the grief of British Jews this week” and postpone.
But on Saturday, about 1,000 people gathered in Trafalgar Square to protest against the banning of Palestine Action, a direct-action group that has vandalized British military planes and targeted sites with links to the Israeli military. It has been labeled a terrorist organization by the government, making support for the group illegal.
Critics say the government is restricting free speech and the right to protest.
Police officers carried away a number of people who sat silently holding signs saying “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.” Police said they made 488 arrests for supporting the outlawed organization, and a handful for other offenses.
More than 2,000 people have now been arrested at protests since Palestine Action was proscribed in July, and more than 130 charged with terrorism offenses.
The war in the Palestinian enclave was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Southern Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead and 251 others taken hostage. The Palestinian militant group said Saturday it was willing to return all remaining hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive, and the bodies of the dead in accordance with U.S. President Donald Trump’s peace plan.
UK police to get new powers after latest pro-Palestinian protest
Reuters
Sun, October 5, 2025
Police officers detain a protester, during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
Police officers detain a protester during a mass demonstration organised by Defend our Juries, against the British government's ban on Palestine Action, at Trafalgar Square in London, Britain, October 4, 2025. REUTERS/Toby Melville
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.
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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)
Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
Kate Devlin
Sun, October 5, 2025
THE INDEPENDENT
Police to get new powers in crackdown on repeat protests after hundreds arrested at Palestine Action rally
Police are to be given greater powers to restrict repeated protests, the home secretary has announced, hours after hundreds were arrested at a Palestine Action demonstration in London.
The event went ahead despite calls from Keir Starmer and others in the wake of the terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester during which two people were killed.
The home secretary Shabana Mahmood said repeated large-scale protests had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.
Palestine Action protest (Reuters)
She 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.
"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes.
"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.
"These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest while ensuring all feel safe in this country."
In the wake of the arrests in London on Saturday, Amnesty International said it should not be the job of the police to arrest people “peacefully sitting down”, and that the arrests amounted to a breach of the UK’s human rights obligations.
As part of the new crackdown ministers will amend Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to explicitly allow the police to take account of the cumulative impact of frequent protests on local areas.
The home secretary will also review existing legislation to ensure powers are both sufficient and being applied consistently by police forces – this will include powers to ban protests outright.
In response, the Tory leader Kemi Badenoch asked: “What took them so long?”
She also said pro-Palestine demonstrators were abusing their right to protest and that many people at the marches are "actually out to intimidate Jews".
But Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesperson Max Wilkinson said: "People spreading antisemitic hate and inciting violence against Jews are getting away with it, and we fear the government’s approach will do nothing to tackle that while undermining the fundamental right to peaceful protest.”
Home secretary Shabana Mahmood outlined the proposals (PA)
The president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, Phil Rosenberg, said the move was one they had called for for months.
He said the change was “a necessary start. We have been calling for this for many months, and it was one of our key demands in the meeting with the prime minister and home secretary on Friday. But the government now needs to go further. We will work with them to ensure that these and other measures are as effective as possible in protecting our community.”
On Saturday officers arrested hundreds of people at a Palestine Action protest in London, days after the Manchester synagogue attack.
Met Police said 492 people were arrested at the protest in support the proscribed group, which was classed by the UK government as a terror organisation earlier this year.
Most of the arrests were made at Trafalgar Square, where around 1,000 protesters sat silently, some holding signs backing Palestine Action, despite calls from Sir Keir and police chiefs to stay away following the terror attack in Manchester.
The Met said many of those arrested had to be carried out of the square after refusing to walk, with each person taking up to five officers to move away safely. Some were pictured holding their hands in the air defiantly.
Paula Dodds, chair of the Metropolitan Police Federation, said officers were “physically exhausted” but continue to be called on “to facilitate these relentless protests. And we are coming under attack for doing so. How can this be right?” she asked.
She added: “There aren’t enough of us. Hardworking police officers are continually having days off cancelled, working longer shifts and being moved from other areas to facilitate these protests.
“Our concentration should be on keeping people safe at a time when the country is on heightened alert from a terrorist attack. We are emotionally and physically exhausted. What are politicians and senior police officers going to do about it?”
Event organiser Defend Our Juries said that among those arrested was 79-year-old Elizabeth Morley, a Jewish woman and daughter of a Holocaust survivor.
In what it called the largest defiance of the ban on Palestine Action to date, people of a mixture of ages sat for the silent vigil, before taking out pens and writing signs in support of the group. Some read: “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action.”
At the same time, around 100 people gathered in Manchester city centre for a similar demonstration, organised by Greater Manchester Friends of Palestine.
The prime minister had urged protesters to “respect the grief of British Jews”, while Jewish figures called the action “phenomenally tone deaf” after two people were killed in the attack in Manchester on Thursday.
Politicians and senior police officers also joined calls for the events not to go ahead. Scotland Yard chief Sir Mark Rowley warned the rallies would “likely create further tensions and some might say lack sensitivity” in the wake of the attack, while Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police Sir Stephen Watson urged would-be attendees to “consider whether this is really the right time”.
Sir Mark added that protests are “drawing valuable resources away from the communities of London at a time when they are needed most”. Police forces have deployed extra officers to synagogues and other Jewish buildings to offer protection and reassurance in the aftermath of the attack, with hundreds of extra officers around Manchester in particular.
Civil liberty groups express concern over plan for more anti-protest powers
Rajeev Syal,Peter Walker and Ben Quinn
Sun, October 5, 2025
THE GUARDIAN
Police officers take away a demonstrator in Trafalgar Square in central London on Saturday.Photograph: Krisztián Elek/Sopa Images/Shutterstock
Civil liberty groups have expressed concern over government plans to hand police greater powers to restrict protests as organisers of mass demonstrations against the banning of Palestine Action pledged a “major escalation” of their campaign.
Shabana Mahmood said on Sunday that repeated large-scale demonstrations over Gaza had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community in the wake of a fatal terror attack on a synagogue last week.
Under new powers, police will be able to impose tougher conditions on static protests or marches by taking account of the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations, she said.
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Following her statement, the pressure group Defend Our Juries promised to escalate the demonstrations in support of Palestine Action over 10 days in November. “The home secretary’s extraordinary new affront to our democracy will only fuel the growing backlash to the ban,” a spokesperson said.
The measures have been announced after almost 500 people were arrested this weekend in London for expressing support for Palestine Action. Jewish community leaders, police and Keir Starmer had called on Palestine Action protesters to refrain from demonstrating after Thursday’s killing of two people in the terror attack on a Manchester synagogue.
Mahmood will also look at all anti-protest laws, with the possibility that powers to ban some demonstrations outright could be strengthened.
Shami Chakrabarti, the Labour peer and former shadow attorney general, warned that the government should pause before passing draconian powers that could end up in the hands of a Nigel Farage-led government.
“Street protest that isn’t a bit of a nuisance isn’t usually effective. But any government seeking to further restrict it should think about new powers in Farragist hands,” she said.
Two Labour MPs also expressed concern at the move. One told the Guardian: “However distasteful the protests in favour of Palestine Action have been, we must not fall into the trap of making rushed laws which can be used in future to stop justifiable protests.”
If a protest such as Saturday’s in support of Palestine Action takes place at the same site on several occasions, and causes repeated disorder, the police will get the power to instruct organisers to hold the event elsewhere, limit numbers and to set time limits, Home Office sources said.
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 jail, an unlimited fine, or both.
Speaking on Sunday to Sky News, Mahmood said she believed there was “a gap in the law” that required action, and she aimed to act at speed.
“What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption, that is to say the frequency of particular protests in particular places, is in and of itself, a reason for the police to be able to restrict and place conditions,” she said.
Speaking later to BBC One’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Mahmood denied this was about banning protest: “This is not about a ban. This is about restrictions and conditions that would enable the police to maybe put further time restrictions or move those protests to other places.
“What I’m allowing is for the police to be able to take cumulative disruption into account, and it is important.”
The Liberal Democrats warned that the plans for further protest restrictions would lead to a greater waste of police time while letting off those inciting violence.
Max Wilkinson, the party’s home affairs spokesperson, said: “The Conservatives made a total mess of protest laws. I fear Labour seem to be following them down the same path, instead of properly reforming these powers to focus on the real criminals and hate preachers.”
The plans could be challenged in the courts because they mirror failed moves by the former Conservative home secretary Suella Braverman to curb protests.
The court of appeal in June upheld the original judgment in what the civil rights organisation Liberty – which brought the legal challenge – hailed as a major legal victory.
The case centred on legislation passed in June 2023 – without a parliamentary vote – that reduced the threshold for when police could crack down on protests, meaning the law covered anything that was deemed as causing “more than minor” disruption. In May 2024, the high court agreed with Liberty that Braverman’s legislation had been unlawful.
Home Office sources pointed out that Liberty won the 2023 case because ministers tried to change the definition of “serious public disorder”, lowering it to cover any crime “more than minor” through a statutory instrument.
Officials believe the measures this time will be more robust because they are not trying to lower the threshold and are planning to use primary legislation.
Tom Southerden, a director at Amnesty International UK, said the government’s proposal was “ludicrous” and may be a “cynical” attempt to look tough.
Akiko Hart, Liberty’s director, said: “The police already have immense powers to restrict protests – handing them even more would undermine our rights further while failing to keep people safe from violence like the horrific and heartbreaking antisemitic attack in Manchester.”
Defend Our Juries said there would be mass civil disobedience defying the ban from 18 to 28 November, in the lead up to and throughout the judicial review.
In a letter to chief constables on Sunday, Mahmood warned that “the country faces a period of heightened tensions and division” and thanked police for their response to Thursday’s attack.
“I have confirmed the government will bring forward legislation to increase the powers available to you to tackle the repeated disruptive protests we have seen, and continue to provide the reassurance to communities that they need.
“And I will review more widely the full suite of public order legislation, to ensure that it keeps pace with the continued changes in the scale, nature and frequency of protests,” she wrote.
The planned new powers follow protest-related measures in the crime and policing bill going through parliament, which would ban the possession of face coverings or fireworks or flares at protests, and criminalise the climbing of certain war memorials.
UK police to get greater powers to restrict demos
AFP
Sun, October 5, 2025
A UK minister says pro-Palestinian protests have caused 'considerable fear' for the Jewish community (JUSTIN TALLIS)(JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/AFP)
UK police are to be given greater powers to restrict protests as a minister said repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.
The government initiative follows Thursday's deadly knife and car-ramming attack on a synagogue in the northwestern city of Manchester.
A pro-Palestinian demonstration in central London went ahead on Saturday despite pleas from Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the capital's Metropolitan Police to delay it.
The government said police would be authorised to consider the "cumulative impact" of protests when deciding to impose limits on protesters.
"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," Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a statement.
Over 1,000 people took part in Saturday's protest in London's Trafalgar Square, with nearly 500 people arrested for showing support for the banned Palestine Action campaign group.
Defend our Juries, a group that organises protests in support of Palestine Action, called the new measures an "extraordinary new affront to democracy" in a statement published Sunday.
It also announced that it would "escalate" its campaign to lift the ban ahead of a legal challenge in the High Court in November.
-'Solidarity' with Jewish community-
Organisers previously rejected calls not to gather, saying they "stood in solidarity" with the Jewish community over the Manchester attack, but that "cancelling peaceful protests lets terror win".
A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy was booed at a vigil for the Jewish victims of the synagogue attack.
"Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes," Mahmood said.
"This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community."
Questioned by a BBC television interviewer about the Jewish community's repeated warnings about the dangers they face, Mahmood admitted she was "very worried about the state of community relations in our country".
The Home Secretary added, speaking to Times Radio, that there was a broad "problem of a rise not only in antisemitism but in other forms of hatred as well".
"There are clearly malign and dark forces running amok across our country," she said.
Police shot dead assailant Jihad Al-Shamie, a 35-year-old UK citizen of Syrian descent, within minutes of the alarm being raised on Thursday's synagogue attack.
One person was killed in the attack outside the synagogue in north Manchester. Another died after suffering a fatal gunshot, likely from armed officers as they tackled Al-Shamie.
Three people who were seriously injured remain in hospital, including one who is also believed to have been accidentally hit by police fire.
Counter terrorism police have been granted more time to detain four people arrested on suspicion of terrorism-linked offences over the incident.
The UK has seen repeated pro-Palestinian demonstrations since the deadly Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023 and Israel's retaliatory action in Gaza in which tens of thousands have died.
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