Police to Get Powers to Ban Masks at Protests as Starmer’s Government Accused of ‘Copy and Pasting’ Conservative Plans

New police powers to ban facemasks being worn at protests would hit disabled activists, dissidents and Muslim women, a human rights group has warned. 

The Crime and Policing Bill being proposed by Keir Starmer’s Government and making its way through Parliament now rehashes many of the same proposals put forward in the Conservatives’ Criminal Justice Bill before it ran out of time ahead of the General Election. 

Police would gain expanded powers to impose bans on wearing face-coverings at protests. The new powers would affect Muslim women wearing niqabs, disabled activists avoiding infection, and dissidents protesting outside foreign embassies, according to campaign group Liberty. 

While there would be legal exemptions to protect those covering their faces for religious or health reasons, this defence would only be available after arrest. In other words, plenty of people would be caught up and arrested before being released without charge. 

Liberty says it would add another chilling effect to peaceful protest in the UK, following several major pieces of strict legislation in recent years – the Conservatives’ Public Order Act and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, neither of which the Government plans to repeal. 

Once the conditions are put on a particular protest, police could compel anyone covering their face to remove that covering at that point, and then if they don’t comply, they can be arrested.

In an interview with Byline Times, Ruth Ehrlich, Head of Policy & Campaigns at Liberty, said: “When you think about the kinds of people who might rely on a face covering to take to the streets, we’re thinking of dissidents who are protesting outside foreign embassies. We’re thinking about Muslim women who might wear the niqab to cover her face. We’re thinking about disabled activists who want to stay healthy and avoid infection.”

“We have seen in recent months arrests happening outside the Chinese Embassy…It’s very difficult when you start dictating how people can and cannot protect themselves at a protest, and the message that that sends to them – and to the regimes that they’re protesting against,” she added.

Police will also be given broader powers to shut down protests near religious buildings, imposing orders which could effectively ban demonstrations from even going near churches, mosques, or synagogues if an order was in place. “In most cities, towns, villages, there will be places of worship near a protest. When you introduce a power as broad as that, does that effectively mean there’s a risk that protests will be shut down because of that,” Ehrlich told Byline Times.

And junior officers will be allowed to be authorised to impose protest conditions. Under the bill, chief officers would be able to delegate powers to relatively low-ranking officers to impose restrictions on large demonstrations, removing previous safeguards around seniority.

British Transport Police will also gain expanded protest powers, with new authority to impose stop and search, demand the removal of face coverings at protests, and impose tough conditions on assembly at transport hubs, stations, and for people on the move.

Ehrlich said much of the Crime and Policing bill was “copy and pasted” from previous Conservative proposals. 

And the group argues the new powers risk exacerbating the prison crisis, sending more peaceful protesters to already overcrowded prisons – and contradicting Government goals to reduce incarceration.

There have been a number of controversial police raids on peaceful activists in recent years, including a Quaker meeting house which was stormed by officers this March.  

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Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) are also set to return under a new name – “Respect Orders”. Liberty argues the “punitive” plans are essentially rebranded Anti-Social Behaviour Orders that were previously scrapped for being ineffective and discriminatory.

Ehrlich says homeless people could be banned from accessing council support services if they face Respect Orders limiting their ability to be in town centres. 

Perhaps most controversially, but less discussed, is the possibility that a UK facial recognition database is being “snuck in”. The draft bill will give police access to DVLA databases to create a mass image portfolio for police to scan using artificial intelligence, to help trace suspects. Liberty again warns that this replicates Conservative plans for a mass facial recognition scheme, set out by the then home secretary Chris Philp. 

There are also fresh provisions to clamp down on protesters deemed to be desecrating war memorials. Liberty brands them “redundant” as there are already strict criminal damage and trespass laws. 

Human rights groups and environmental campaigners including Amnesty and Greenpeace are now pushing for a new positive right to protest, set out clearly in law, following the drastic tightening of the right to demonstrate in recent years. 

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Ehrlich added: “What we have seen through the Police Act and the Public Order Act is that when these restrictions are put in place, it does make it much easier for people to be arrested, even if they’re later released without charge…

“There are really [concerning] stories of conditions being imposed and then people being arrested for stepping on the wrong part of the pavement or trying to leave the protest early and inadvertently breaching some conditions.”

The House of Lords is expected to scrutinise the bill in detail, with the Labour Government likely to be challenged over the restrictions on face coverings and the new respect order measures as the bill progresses.

Ehrlich of Liberty says there is now a “web of legislation” making protest law unworkable, with multiple overlapping acts creating confusion for both protesters and police about what’s legal. Officers have previously said they need resources, not more powers over protests.

She cautioned Brits to remember: “If legislation is brought in that allows the police to clamp down on protest in one circumstance, they have it to do it in others, too.”

The legislation is likely to return for its report stage in the Commons in the coming weeks. Rebel amendments are unlikely to succeed as the Conservatives are likely to back the bill. 

The Home Office was contacted for comment. In a briefing from the Department, a Government spokesperson said that through the bill: “We will tackle the epidemic of serious violence, child sexual abuse and violence against women and girls that stains our society.

“[We will] protect the public and our town centres from antisocial behaviour, retail crime and shop theft, equip the police and others with the powers they need to combat antisocial behaviour, crime and terrorism, and rebuild public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system.” 

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