Member

The Government have a duty to balance the qualified right to peaceful protest with the duty to protect others’ individual rights. That is why, on 5 October, the Home Secretary announced the intention to authorise police to consider the cumulative impact of protests to help protect communities from repeated disruption, especially where the same site has been targeted again and again. Government Amendment 372 addresses this issue by amending Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 so that the police must take the cumulative impact of protest activity into consideration when deciding whether the serious disruptions to the life of the community threshold has been met, and whether to set conditions on protests.