Human rights official urges UK to review laws after Palestine Action placard arrests | UK civil liberties
Europe’s top human rights official has called on Shabana Mahmood to review UK protest laws after mass arrests over the Palestine Action ban.
Michael O’Flaherty, the Council of Europe’s commissioner for human rights, said in a letter to the home secretary that the current legal framework allows UK authorities “to impose excessive restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression and risk over-policing”.
He also called on the government to reconsider provisions in the crime and police bill currently being debated in the House of Lords that would make concealing your identity at a protest a criminal offence.
Since the ban on Palestine Action under the Terrorism Act came into force on July 5, hundreds of people have been arrested, mostly for holding banners reading “I oppose genocide, I support Palestine Action.”
O’Flaherty, who begins his six-year term in 2024, wrote in a letter to the UK home secretary last month: “I observe that a large number of arrests have been made for displaying banners or banners expressing solidarity with the organization or opposing the government’s decision to ban the organisation.
“I am aware that ‘supporting’ a proscribed group is an offense under the Terrorism Act 2000. In this regard, I remind you that domestic legislation designed to counter ‘terrorism’ or ‘violent extremism’ should not impose any restrictions on fundamental rights and freedoms that are not strictly necessary for the protection of national security and the protection of the rights and freedoms of others, including the right to freedom of peaceful assembly.
He continued: “Amendments following the passage of the Police Crime, Sentences and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 continue to allow authorities to impose excessive restrictions on freedom of assembly and expression and risk over-policing.
“Following recent court findings that regulations defining serious disruption as ‘more than minor’ disruption are unlawful, I urge your government to ensure that any arrests or convictions based on these regulations are subject to review.
“I would also recommend a comprehensive review of the compatibility of existing legislation on policing protests with the UK’s human rights obligations,” he wrote.
The crime and policing bill would make it an offense if a person conceals their identity in an area where police believe a protest is taking place or may take place and involves or could involve breaking the law.
Under existing public order law, police already have the power to direct people to remove their face masks.
“The general nature of the offense, particularly at a time when police have the power to request individuals to remove face masks in certain cases, as well as the potentially broad nature of ‘concealing’ identity in other ways, raises questions of necessity and proportionality,” O’Flaherty wrote.
Civil liberties groups have raised concerns about Mahmood’s latest plans, announced in October, to give police greater powers to restrict protests in England and Wales.
He said under the new powers police could impose tougher conditions on static protests or marches, taking into account the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs has been approached for comment.
