Civil rights groups condemn proposal to give police more anti-protest power

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.”

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If a protest such as Saturday’s in support of Palestine Action takes place at the same site on several occasions, and caused 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 yesterday to Sky News, Mahmood said she believed there was “a gap in the law” that required action, and that 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 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.”