Elham Asaad Buaras
The UK government announced new anti-protest measures in England and Wales, including the ability for police to arrest those attending demonstrations while wearing face coverings.
Other measures, announced on February 8, include prohibiting protestors from bringing flares or other pyrotechnics, while those who climb national monuments may face a three-month prison sentence and a £1,000 fine.
The proposals have garnered accusations that the government is pandering to the far right ahead of the general elections and in response to mounting calls from hardline Conservatives, including former Home Secretary Suella Braverman, for stricter action against pro-Palestine demonstrations.
Shami Chakrabarti, the human rights lawyer and peer, said: “Should rape victims or refugees peacefully protesting be punished for covering their faces to protect their identities? This is more culture war nonsense from the government while children go hungry and the planet burns.”
Akiko Hart, Director of the rights advocacy group Liberty, said: “Bringing in these powers puts people at greater risk of being criminalised for exercising their right to protest—including disabled people who, in some situations, have only felt comfortable protesting in public when wearing face coverings.
“It is extremely concerning that the government is trying to impose even more conditions on not only when people can protest, but how they protest too.”
Sacha Deshmukh, Amnesty International UK’s Chief Executive, told The Muslim News,
“These planned new measures are a direct attack on our right to peacefully protest, and if made into law, they’ll be another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression in this country.
It’s vital that the rights to freedom of peaceful protest and expression are upheld; this is fundamental to any free and fair society.
“We’re already living in a dark era of protest crackdowns following the government’s hardline policing and public order acts, and these proposed new powers should be voted down by MPs and resisted by anyone worried about the continued clampdown on our rights in the UK.”
The SNP’s Amy Callaghan is among those who reject the idea, stating that her party opposes any reforms that restrict people’s ability to protest.
The MP for East Dunbartonshire said: “People feel helpless in the wake of the situation unfolding 24/7 on our social media feeds in Israel and Gaza. They donate what they can in a cost-of-living crisis; they boycott; they protest.
“How does Westminster respond? By cutting cost-of-living support, by banning public bodies from ethically investing, and by clamping down on the right to protest with measures that will particularly impact certain people in society—particularly those living with a disability.”
She added, “Isn’t this just another example of this government pandering to its far-right wing rather than protecting the legitimate right to protest?”
Home Office Minister Tom Tugendhat replied, “The SNP is choosing to make divisive politics out of what has, frankly, been a moment of national unity.”It follows the Public Order Act of 2023, which granted English and Welsh police broad new powers to combat protests.
Labour has stated that they will “scrutinise the details” rather than outright oppose the planned reforms.
Dan Jarvis, Shadow Home Office Minister, said that “dissidents opposing oppressive regimes” should be allowed discretion when wearing face coverings outside foreign embassies to protect their families abroad.
“It is essential that the police can maintain public order while safeguarding the right to legitimate peaceful protest. We will therefore scrutinise the details of these proposals to ensure that any new measures are applied appropriately and proportionately,” said Jarvis.
He added: “Whilst we do understand the genuine concern about protesters committing public order offences wearing face coverings, we are also concerned that there might be at times legitimate reasons why some protesters would want to wear face coverings.
“Let me give the minister an example. When dissidents protest outside foreign embassies, and the minister will know which ones I have in mind, they may well want to conceal their identity to protect their families back home.”
The Labour frontbencher asked for more clarity about how the new powers would be used, adding: “The UK is and should always be a haven for dissidents opposing oppressive regimes.”
Jarvis welcomed the ban on flares and fireworks, as well as the plans to curtail protesters from climbing war memorials, which he described as “extremely important places, places to remember those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in the service of our country.”. Tugendhat assured MPs it would be at “a police officer’s discretion to give an order for the face covering to be required to be removed”.
He added, “That will mean that those commanding the policing of protesting will have discretion as to when they will be asking for that instruction to be carried out.”
Officers already have the power to ask people to remove face coverings at designated protests where forces believe crimes are likely to occur.
Photo: Stop the Slaughter in Palestine Demo- Anonymous, Marble Arch, London, England, January 10, 2009. (Credit: Loz Pycock/Flickr)
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