“This new piece of legislation is part of the government’s broader project to demonise us and suppress our growing movement.”
By Celie Hanson, PSC Campaigns Officer
Last week, the government shamefully passed an extreme measure to give police new powers to effectively ban repeat protests through the Crime and Policing Bill. We know this intensification of its attempts to repress our rights is in order for it to maintain its complicity in Israel’s genocide and apartheid.
When it becomes law, the police will be required to take into account any ‘cumulative disruption’ caused by past or future protests in the same ‘area’ when deciding whether to impose restrictions, notwithstanding if the protests are for the same cause. We know that Britain’s democratic system itself is the outcome of successive waves of protest – the civil rights movement, the campaign for universal suffrage and the movement against apartheid in South Africa all relied on the ‘cumulative’ impact of repeated protests over many years.
However, despite the government’s best attempts to railroad this new piece of legislation through Parliament, we mounted significant opposition across civil society and amongst Parliamentarians, building a broad and united front against this escalating authoritarianism.
Last Tuesday, the Bill returned to the Commons for its final stages, and MPs had the chance to stand on the right side of history by voting against the ‘cumulative disruption’ proposal contained within it, spearheaded by Andy McDonald MP and Kim Johnson MP. Thousands of constituents lobbied their MPs to oppose it, and over 20 MPs from multiple parties dissented and voted against the government to defend our right to protest. The full breakdown of votes can be found here.
As it was first tabled in the House of Lords, in a failed bid by the government to avoid scrutiny in the Commons, this was the first and only time MPs had to debate the proposal, and many intervened and spoke powerfully about the threats it poses. This matches the fierce opposition it faced in the Lords, including from Lord Peter Hain, Baroness Christine Blower and Baroness Jenny Jones.
Cynically, the government announced the proposal in the aftermath of the deadly attack on Manchester synagogue worshippers on 2 October 2025. There is no evidence linking this horrific attack to any form of protest, and there is no evidence of any threat to Jewish people linked to the national demonstrations for Palestine.
As Jonathan Rosenhead, who organises with Jewish Voice for Liberation, one of the groups making up the Jewish Bloc on the national demonstrations, says in relation to this new measure:
“Consider the Jewish commitment to the National Marches for Palestine, which this legislation hopes to neuter. I have taken part in many of these marches as a member of the Jewish Bloc. There have always been hundreds of us, and sometimes into four figures – a living, walking refutation of the claim that repressing these marches is necessary for the safety of Jews.”
During its time in the Lords, over 100 MPs demanded the government withdraw the proposal, and continually raised concerns about its nature and the need for a dedicated debate and vote through written and oral questions, and a letter to the speaker signed by over 50 MPs. PSC was proud to convene more than 45 civil society organisations and trade unions, including the Trades Union Congress, Liberty and Greenpeace, and over 100 lawyers and legal experts, who all called on the government to withdraw the proposal.
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association, Gina Romero, also provided MPs with a damning international perspective – that nowhere in her review of legislation worldwide had she seen anything like it, warning it could be used as an example by authoritarian governments around the world.
Ahead of the Bill returning to the Commons last week, Lord Peter Hain urged MPs to oppose it, making clear that:
“These plans have not arisen in a vacuum. They continue to be framed as a response to the national demonstrations in support of Palestinian rights. These marches, which have been some of the largest and most sustained protests ever seen in this country, have been repeatedly and wrongly labelled as hate marches.”
Yet, the government still decided to force the measure through in an undemocratic fashion by including it in a roll-up of amendments that MPs would have normally voted through without objection. This meant MPs wanting to defend our right to protest had no choice but to vote against the roll-up, as the government had blocked any individual vote on the proposal itself.
It is particularly grotesque that the government has consistently presented this attack on our democratic rights as protection for vulnerable groups, whilst simultaneously permitting far-right mobilisations outside asylum hotels and far-right demonstrations where violence is incited from the stage. Disgracefully, the police have now favoured the thug Tommy Robinson by giving him the political centre of London over the annual Nakba Day march on 16 May. This march holds huge significance to the Palestinian community and many others and is held every year to commemorate the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland.
We know that this new piece of legislation is part of the government’s broader project to demonise us and suppress our growing movement. We also know that the best way to resist attempts like this to silence us is to keep on campaigning. Part of that is building the broadest alliances possible, which we will continue to do as we continue to defy our critics.
That is another reason it is more important than ever that we mobilise in huge numbers for the next national demonstration for Palestine on 16 May to commemorate the ongoing Nakba, and to reassert that we will not stop until from the river to the sea, Palestine is free.
In the words of the incredible Dr. Ghassan Abu-Sittah, “it is your world to fight for. It is your tomorrow to make…We will own tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a Palestinian day.”
- You can follow the Palestine Solidarity Campaign on Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky and TikTok.
- If you support Labour Outlook’s work amplifying the voices of left movements and struggles here and internationally, please consider becoming a supporter on Patreon.
