Pro-Palestine marches to continue amid fragile ceasefire as organisers hit out at ‘draconian assault’ on right to protest

Pro-Palestinian organizations in Britain have reacted angrily to government plans to give police new powers to impose conditions on repeated demonstrations, describing it as a “brutal attack” on the right to protest.

They vowed to continue protesting, saying the peace deal brokered by US President Donald Trump did not resolve some of the problems that continue to plague them. Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The ceasefire already looks fragile; Both sides accuse the other of failing to abide by a ceasefire in the hours after the last living hostages were released on Monday.

Home Affairs Minister Shabana Mahmood announced earlier this month that police forces would be given new powers to impose tougher conditions on protests, taking into account the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations.

To talk IndependentBen Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), called the move “a new brutal attack on the fundamental right to protest.”

“This could have potentially huge consequences. It could mean, for example, ‘you’ve already protested once, you can’t protest again’,” he added.

Mr Jamal highlighted the lack of clarity on how police currently enforce protest restrictions. He claimed that police had previously used “cumulative effect” to block protest routes at synagogues located near the march.

He said the Palestine Coalition, a group of six groups that organized recent marches and protests for Palestine, was ready to challenge the new rules in the courts.

He added: “Their meaning is really broad, but they are specifically aimed at targeting our movement.

“We also know that what has happened in the last two years has been extraordinary; there have been no consistent protests like this among the numbers we have been able to mobilize since the suffrage movement.

“It responds to the very unique situation of a live-streamed genocide and our government’s continued complicity in it.”

Israel has vehemently denied allegations of genocide in Gaza.

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A wave of pro-Palestinian demonstrations has spread in London and other major cities since October 2023, when Israel’s war against Gaza began. Although the demonstrations were largely peaceful, some critics say they enabled the spread of anti-Semitism. Some British Jews say they feel threatened by slogans such as “From river to sea, Palestine will be free.”

Tens of thousands of people gathered in central London for a demonstration organized by the Palestinian Coalition on Saturday, a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into force. The PSC announced further protests, including a mass strike on university campuses on Thursday and a boycott of Barclays bank on Saturday.

Ms Mahmood proposed amendments to Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to allow authorities to take into account the cumulative effect of frequent or repeated protests when deciding whether to impose conditions such as changing the route or timing of events.

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She insisted the move was not a ban on protests but “about restrictions and conditions”, adding that repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian protests had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community.

No timeline was given for when the new rules would come into force. Ms Mahmood said a review of existing protest legislation was ongoing, including powers to ban protests outright. According to current law, police can completely ban the march if there is a serious risk of disrupting public order.

Lindsey German, national organizer of the Stop the War Coalition and member of the Palestine Coalition, argued that Ms Mahmood’s reasoning for further restrictions on protest laws did not make sense.

“The whole cumulative impact thing, if you think about a show, they have to make an impact,” he said Independent.

“I first went to a show in South Africa when I was a teenager. And my last show in South Africa was probably 30 years later. These need to be effective, they need to continue to highlight an unresolved problem.”

Ms German acknowledged the ceasefire marked a shift in the conflict, but said it did not eliminate the need for demonstrations to continue. He argued that the peace plan lacked clarity and failed to address key issues, including justice for those responsible for tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, ongoing oppression of Palestinians and rising violence in the West Bank.

“We’re assuming we’ll continue to demonstrate over the next few months… We think that’s very, very likely,” he said. “We are very concerned about rules that will further restrict the law and we actually think there are too many restrictions on demonstrations… We fear it will become increasingly difficult to protest in London.

“We don’t know exactly what the impact will be. This gives the police tremendous control over what you can and can’t do. Either way, this is a denial of our right to protest.”

A Home Office spokesman said: “The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy and it is a long-standing tradition in this country that people can freely express their views.

“The Home Secretary has made changes to ensure protests do not leave communities feeling unsafe and intimidated. These changes mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest, while ensuring we all feel safe in this country.”