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The “aggressive” police use of new anti-protest laws – alongside the demonisation of peaceful protesters – has grown so routine and so severe that it now amounts to state repression, according to a new report from the Network for Police Monitoring (Netpol).
Netpol, which has supported the rights of frontline protest groups since 2009, has called for urgent action to reverse this trend, which was amplified vigorously by the previous Conservative Government but “continues unabated” under Labour.
The authors hit out at a “growing portrayal of protesters as alleged threats to democracy rather than a vital part of public participation.”
Two major Acts of Parliament – the Police Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 – have “changed the legal landscape” for protest drastically over the past few years.
“Both have sent a clear message that protest rights were to be restricted. This message has encouraged police use of both their new and existing powers,” NetPol argues.
The laws criminalise a swathe of campaign tactics and actions, particularly civil disobedience tactics such as “locking on” to blockade sites and roads, or disrupting major road networks and national events.
But the report also finds that the “emboldened” police use of existing powers to restrict and target protest have had as significant an impact on the right to protest as new laws and criminal offences.
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“The policing of protests is increasingly driven by political and media pressure on police forces to crack down on ‘disruptive’ protest,” the authors say.
Police forces are increasingly empowered to intervene in protests to prevent anything that causes “more than minor” hindrance to businesses or the public, under a law change passed by former Home Secretary Suella Braverman and currently being defended in the courts by the now-Labour Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Universities, too, are increasingly sharing information about student protesters with police, campaigners allege, particularly regarding campus protests against Israel’s war on Gaza.
Real Life Impact
Launching the report in an online meeting, Huda Ammori (co-founder of direct action group Palestine Action) discussed the ‘Filton 18’ case, where activists who destroyed drone components reportedly heading for Israel were arrested in August 2024 under terrorism legislation, despite being charged with ordinary offences.
Some of the Filton 18 defendants reportedly face up to two years in prison on remand before trial.
Phil Ball of climate group Reclaim the Power described “Operation Infusion,” a massive police operation that cost £3.1 million and involved 1,070 officers from 39 police forces, to prevent a climate camp near Drax power station in August last year.
Ball and 25 others were arrested in pre-dawn raids for “conspiracy to interfere with key infrastructure” and “going equipped to lock on” – charges apparently based on possessing “a cable tie and a piece of rope.”
A legal figure from the Climate Action Support Pathway, pointed to harsher sentences for climate protesters, with record prison stints for Just Stop Oil protesters, though some were reduced on appeal this month as being “manifestly excessive.”
She noted a “systematic” increase in pressure on climate protesters from multiple directions: new offences, longer sentences, tough bail conditions, long stints awaiting trial, GPS tagging, and criminal behaviour orders.
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The report contrasts the treatment of Heathrow runway protesters in 2016 (who received suspended sentences) with 2023 protesters arrested outside the airport’s boundary fence, who now face up to 10 year sentences for “conspiracy to cause public nuisance”.
Meanwhile, walking in the road during protests, which previously might have resulted in a warning or fine, can now lead to imprisonment, with Just Stop Oil protesters particularly affected.
Concerted Attacks
The “negative labelling” of campaigners, organisations and social movements has also ramped up in recent years, NetPol says, as “aggravated activists”, national security concerns, or even “terrorists”.
Regular attacks by politicians, their advisors and the press on the legitimacy of protest demands have come alongside attempts to demonise particular protest groups, NetPol argues, and branding groups like Palestine Action as criminal networks.
The report draws attention to the demonisation of other pro-Palestine campaigners, which they say has been “deeply Islamophobic”, classing them as either antisemitic or an ‘Islamist threat’ to the safety of MPs.
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They claim a broad interpretation of police as to what constitutes ‘glorifying’ proscribed terrorist organisations has resulted in people being “unpredictably and inconsistently arrested for little more than wearing particular colours or styles of clothing, or displaying writing in Arabic on placards, banners and clothing” – for example when police allege protesters are backing Hamas or Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, police in London appear to have ramped up the use of existing laws to clamp down on protests, under Section 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986. Home Office data shows that one force, the Metropolitan Police, is almost the sole user of these powers which it uses to “systematically disrupt marches and protests” in central London, NetPol says.
Interestingly, the offence of causing ‘public nuisance’ is now “squarely situated as a protest-related offence” – rather than being used for prosecuting activities that polluters are accused of, but for going after protesters against them instead.
Police also appear to be making more pre-emptive arrests before demonstrations, with groups such as Palestine Action and Just Stop Oil facing multi-year prison sentences for conspiracy charges, most prominently in the case of the ‘Whole Truth Five’ sentenced to prison for planning disruption of the M25 over Zoom.
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Judges have largely abandoned the idea that “conscientious motivations” for deciding to break the law are important and should be considered by juries. Meanwhile, “juries are denied the opportunity to hear motives or to decide for themselves whether this has a bearing on the actions of defendants,” in what campaign groups like Defend Our Juries dub ‘gagging orders’.
Scale of Crackdown
The report’s author and Netpol’s Campaigns Coordinator Kevin Blowe said 2024 was “relentless” for the organisation: “Every week there was a new and more confrontational restriction on the right to protest, another deeply toxic attack on the legitimacy of protest demands or a renewed attempt to demonise and smear particular protest groups…
“Often before Netpol had time to brief the groups we work with on the latest development, we would hear another story of a further crackdown. Campaigners have told us that these unrelenting attacks on the right to protest left them feeling unsure whether attending a demonstration was too risky or whether they might suddenly face arbitrary arrest.”
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He added the group’s analysis of protests in 2024 had revealed “the severity of the crackdown on the right to protest finally tipping over into state repression.”
“We urgently call on protest groups and policy campaigners to push back against the drift towards repression before it grows even worse.”
The first “State of Protest” report looks at events between January and December 2024. The period covers the ongoing demonstrations against the Government’s policy towards Israel, the jailing of climate campaigners, “culture wars” against protest groups in advance of the general election, and the race riots last summer.
Netpol and the Article 11 Trust, which funded the report, plan to produce an annual assessment of the state of protest rights, but say this first report – ‘This is Repression’ – “reflects the severity of the circumstances campaigners now face.”
They accuse the Government and the police of implementing “an alarming package of state-supported measures designed to impose social control on protests on a scale reminiscent of the ‘war on terror’ two decades ago”.
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And the report warns that in 2025, the imminent use of new Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (anti-protest banning orders designed to target key individuals) is likely to lead to even more oppressive and intrusive surveillance of political views that has an impact far beyond those who are immediately targeted.
Labour are also pushing through a new crime bill which will grant police more powers to ban the wearing of masks at demonstrations, and clamp down further on activists supposedly ‘targeting’ memorials.
Police Respond
A spokesperson for the National Police Chiefs Council told Byline Times: “UK police have a long history of facilitating peaceful protest and upholding the right to protest, while balancing it with the rights of others [to] keep the public safe, prevent crime and disorder.
“The guiding principles of policing protests are the safety of protestors, the public and police officers involved, preventing criminal behaviour or disorder and de-escalating tensions.
“Police officers also seek to find the right balance between the rights of protestors and those of local residents and businesses. Where possible, we will work with event organisers and any other affected groups to minimise serious disruption to communities and protect critical infrastructure.”
The spokesperson also denied political pressure, saying police forces “We police without fear or favour. Officers don’t take the side of one cause or another and while we consult with lots of different groups, we take decisions independently.
“We don’t give permission for protests and we can’t ban them either, except for in very exceptional circumstances…We will continue to apply the laws that Parliament has created. It is for Parliament, not the police, to determine if the impact of those laws is as intended or if any change is required.”
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