The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts bill 2021, which is currently being discussed in parliament, has provoked major condemnation from rights groups. Its proposals to restrict freedom of demonstration in particular have sparked widespread concerns about the future of human rights in the UK.
The bill aims to limit where protests can take place, citing “noise” as a reason for police intervention if it causes “serious disruption” to an organisation in the vicinity.
The change in the law would give power to the secretary of state to define what constitutes “serious disruption”. Doubts about the government’s impartiality towards certain protest groups make this plan questionable. And among other issues, the legislation would make it an offence for protesters to fail to comply with any condition “they ought to have known”, essentially criminalising people for unknowingly breaching the law.