The right to protest is facing its most serious assault in decades, as sweeping new laws continually hand police additional powers to suppress public assembly, according to a major new JUSTICE report.

Published today, Striking the Balance: Protest Rights and Public Order finds that in just four years, successive governments have introduced a cascade of offences and police powers that dramatically lower the threshold for criminalising peaceful protest, erode vital human rights protections and create widespread confusion for the public, police and courts.

The report documents wide-ranging reforms introduced under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSCA) and the Public Order Act 2023 (POA), highlighting their repressive impact.

Police can now curb protests on the basis of noise – an essential feature of any mass gathering – putting anyone who attends a large protest at risk of arrest and prosecution.

Members of the public can also now be arrested for carrying items as innocuous as cable ties, bike locks or glue, on suspicion that they may be used for “locking‑on”[1].

The Crime and Policing Bill, which is currently in the House of Lords, is set to go further, giving police even greater powers to limit repeat protests and ban the wearing of face coverings.

JUSTICE argues that these changes herald a fundamental constitutional shift in the law – away from a framework for facilitating peaceful protest towards a system for expanding state control and pre-empting dissent.

To restore clarity, safeguard public confidence, and ensure compliance with the rule of law, JUSTICE is calling for:

• a pause on all new protest‑related legislation;
• repeal of the most draconian and unworkable powers introduced since 2022;
• the creation of an independent Public Order Monitoring Authority to review policing and legislation annually;
• removal of protest from civil order regimes and stronger oversight of local authority powers;
• a statutory requirement for visible police identification at all protests;
• a national database to bring transparency to protest policing.

Fiona Rutherford, Chief Executive of JUSTICE, said:

“Year by year, we see police powers grow, as our fundamental right to protest is treated more like a privilege. The law in this area has become dangerously unbalanced, empowering the state to silence voices it should be safeguarding. Reversing this trend is essential to restoring trust, protecting rights and preserving a healthy democracy.”

Lord Alton of Liverpool, writing in a foreword to the report, said:

“This timely report is an important wakeup call that, even here in the UK, we cannot take the right to protest for granted. The report provides some timely and important recommendations to ensure that UK citizens can come together and peacefully express their position. Coexistence in a respectful society – entrenched by active engagement and participation in public life – will remain central to how we shape the future of our country.”

Similar concerns are shared by Human Rights Watch, which today publishes its own report, warning that the right to protest has been severely restricted by successive governments - in contravention of their international obligations.

JUSTICE[2] also warns that heavy-handed protest policing risks further eroding trust at a time when confidence in the police is already at historic lows, following the murder of Sarah Everard and recent findings of institutional misogyny, racism and misconduct.

Despite the tightening of the law, public support for the right to peaceful assembly remains overwhelming. Research conducted in 2024 found 83% of the public agree that everyone should be able to protest on issues they care about[3].

Yet major reforms continue to be rushed through Parliament without proper evidence-based review or consultation, offering MPs and Peers limited time to scrutinise their implications.  

The report also raises alarm over the expanding use of civil measures, including Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs), Anti‑Social Behaviour Injunctions (ASBIs) and Serious Disruption Prevention Orders (SDPOs), to restrict protest, warning that these powers can be imposed on the basis of minimal evidence, hearsay or anticipated conduct, often without meaningful judicial oversight.

The report emphasises that such orders can even apply to “persons unknown” and carry criminal penalties for breach despite being imposed without the safeguards of the criminal justice system. Together, these mechanisms enable public authorities and even private companies to create “bespoke protest bans” enforced through contempt proceedings, effectively bypassing the protections and due‑process standards that ordinarily apply in the courts.

Click here to read the report in full

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[1] On the day of King Charles III’s Coronation, six people attending an anti-monarchy protest were arrested on suspicion of being equipped to lock-on for carrying plastic ties, despite telling officers the items would be used to secure placards. The Met held the protesters for sixteen hours before their release. The force subsequently apologised personally to one of the protesters and expressed regret for their arrests.

[2] JUSTICE is a cross-party law reform organisation working to build a fairer UK justice system within everyone’s reach. Over its 68-year history it has transformed the legal landscape for the better, led by evidence, expertise, and a focus on practical solutions. For example, key legal bodies we now take for granted such as the Ombudsman, the Crown Prosecution Service, and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board were all proposed and supported into being by JUSTICE.

[3] The People’s Town Square on protest: Looking beyond the headlines, Demos report, 2024

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