Today the Crime and Policing Bill will enter its Second Reading debate in the House of Commons

It is the fourth anti-protest bill put to Parliament in as many years

The Bill seeks to criminalise yet more parts of peaceful protest, including banning face coverings and gives police the power to force people who are on limited visas to leave the country

‘Despite having opposed much of the raft of draconian protest laws passed by the previous government, it seems the new government has decided to continue the attack on peaceful protest’ – Kerry Moscogiuri

Amnesty International UK is raising concern about the contents of the Crime and Policing Bill ahead of its Second Reading today (10 March).

The large bill details a diverse range of issues, but its clauses on protest are especially problematic.

These measures are taken from last year’s Criminal Justice Bill, which was part of the previous Government’s ongoing and far-reaching crackdown on peaceful protest.

As the fourth anti-protest bill put to parliament in as many years, protesters continue to face mounting criminalisation for peaceful protest as well as the imprisonment of peaceful protesters for longer than some serious violent offenders.

The bill seeks to give police the power to ban wearing a head covering at a protest and criminalises being in possession of a pyrotechnic at a protest. Police could also be handed new powers to compel protesters that are on limited visas to leave the country if they get a caution. There are also measures related to climbing certain war memorials.

Kerry Moscogiuri, Amnesty International UK’s Director of Campaigns, said:

“Despite having opposed much of the raft of draconian protest laws passed by the previous Government, it seems the current Government has decided to continue the attack on peaceful protest.

“Peaceful protest is clearly protected under international law, yet alarmingly it seems the UK has entered a dangerous new era of authoritarian policing which seeks to undermine our right to free speech.

“Amnesty urges MPs to attend the Second Reading debate on the Crime and Policing Bill and to raise serious concerns about the inclusion of yet more unnecessary anti-protest measures.”

Policing protest in the UK

The latest protest measures in the Crime and Policing Bill should be understood in the context of three previous sweeping anti-protest laws: the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Orders Act 2023 and the Serious Disruption Regulations 2023.

Thanks to this authoritarian legislation, police can define almost any demonstration as “seriously disruptive” and impose restrictions on it. Peaceful tactics like locking on, tunnelling and even causing “serious annoyance” have been criminalised. New powers have been created to issue orders banning people from even attending protests.  

There has also been a steep rise in the use of facial recognition technology in the policing of protest. This is despite the UK Court of Appeal concluding in 2020 that the legal framework in place at the time for this technology violated human rights.

Hundreds of protesters have been arrested. Some have received long custodial sentences and many prosecutions remain pending. Following his visit to the UK in January last year, the UN Special Rapporteur on Environmental Defenders warned that environmental activists face a “severe crackdown” due to the repressive legislative framework and introduction of new criminal charges.

New stop and search powers, including suspicionless stop and search, can be used against people at or on the way to protests. Existing evidence highlights that stop-and-search powers are disproportionately used against Black and other minoritised people, itself a feature of an institutionally racist policing and criminal justice system. The expansion of these powers serves as a gateway for further racialised police encounters.

Prior to the publication of the Crime and Policing Bill, the new Government had committed to legislative scrutiny of the anti-protest laws passed while it was in Opposition. It now appears that the Government is intent on adding to the ongoing attack on protest rights in this country, raising serious questions as to its commitment to a good faith appraisal of the damage that has been done to expression and assembly rights in the last few years.