UK to introduce limits on protests after synagogue attack
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The British police arrested nearly 500 people in the latest protest in Trafalgar Square.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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LONDON – British Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will give the police new powers to place limits on repeated protests and is considering legislation to ban them outright, after weeks of demonstrations led to hundreds of arrests and strained resources.
The move comes a day after police arrested nearly 500 people in the latest protest in Trafalgar Square, which was in support of the proscribed group Palestine Action. Prime Minister Keir Starmer had earlier called on organisers to cancel the Oct 4 event in the wake of last week’s attack on a Manchester synagogue.
“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” Ms Mahmood said in a statement on Oct 5. “However, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear.”
Two people were killed in Manchester on Oct 2 on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews, and police shot dead the assailant, a British man of Syrian descent who officials said may have been inspired by extremist Islamist ideology.
Police will be given new powers to tell organisers of demonstrations that have taken place at the same site “for weeks on end, and caused repeated disorder” to move their events somewhere else, according to the statement, with offenders facing arrest and prosecution.
The new powers will be brought forward as soon as possible, the government said.
Ms Mahmood is also reviewing existing legislation to ensure that “powers are sufficient and being consistently applied”, including the ability to bar protests from taking place altogether. BLOOMBERG, REUTERS
