Policing Protests: Law and Practice

The right to peaceful protest is protected by Articles 10 (freedom of expression) and 11 (freedom of assembly and association) of the European Convention on Human Rights, incorporated into domestic law by the Human Rights Act 1998. These rights are qualified: they may be restricted where necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, or for the protection of the rights and freedoms of others.

Police powers in relation to protests are found primarily in the Public Order Act 1986 and the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 (PCSC Act). Section 12 of the Public Order Act 1986 allows a senior police officer to impose conditions on a procession if they reasonably believe it may result in serious public disorder, serious damage to property, serious disruption to the life of the community, or intimidation. Section 14 provides equivalent powers for assemblies (static protests). The PCSC Act 2022 amended these provisions, lowering the threshold for imposing conditions on assemblies to include "noise" as a ground for intervention.

The Public Order Act 2023 introduced further powers, including: serious disruption prevention orders (SDPOs), which can be imposed on individuals who have been convicted of protest-related offences on at least two occasions and which may restrict their movements and activities; offences of locking on and tunnelling; and an offence of obstructing major transport works. The 2023 Act has been criticised by civil liberties organisations and the Joint Committee on Human Rights as disproportionately restricting the right to protest.

Officers policing a protest must balance the rights of protestors against the rights of others and the need to prevent crime and disorder. The College of Policing's APP on public order emphasises a "facilitate first" approach: the starting point should be to facilitate lawful protest rather than to restrict it. Kettling (the containment of protestors within a cordon) was upheld by the Supreme Court in Austin v Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2009] UKHL 5 as lawful in certain circumstances, but the ECHR subsequently found in Austin v United Kingdom [2012] that such containment engages Article 5 (right to liberty) and must be proportionate and necessary.