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07-10-2025
LONDON: British police will be given powers to restrict repeat protests in the same place, the government said on Sunday after a latest pro-Palestinian demonstration went ahead despite requests to cancel it in the wake of a deadly attack at a synagogue.
The new powers will allow senior police officers to consider the cumulative impact of previous protests on a local community, the interior ministry said.
“The right to protest is a fundamental freedom in our country,” interior minister Shabana Mahmood said; “however, this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbors to live their lives without fear.”
Mahmood is also due to review the police’s existing powers to ensure they are sufficient and consistently applied, including powers to ban protests outright, the ministry said.
“Large, repeated protests can leave sections of our country, particularly religious communities, feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes,” Mahmood said.
“This has been particularly evident in relation to the considerable fear within the Jewish community, which has been expressed to me on many occasions in these recent difficult days.”
Two people were killed in Manchester on Thursday on Yom Kippur, the holiest day for Jews, and police shot dead the assailant, a British man of Syrian descent who officials said may have been inspired by extremist Islamist ideology.
On Saturday, police arrested almost 500 people in central London in a latest protest in support of Palestine Action, a group that was banned in July after members broke into an airbase and damaged military planes.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer had urged the protest’s organizers to call it off out of respect for the grief of British Jews.
London police arrested hundreds of protesters for supporting a banned pro-Palestinian group at a demonstration on Saturday which went ahead despite requests to call it off after a deadly attack at a synagogue in Manchester.
Two people were killed in the attack in the northwestern English city on Thursday and police shot dead the assailant, a British man of Syrian descent who counter-terrorism police said may have been inspired by extremist Islamist ideology.
Organizers refused requests by the police and government to call off Saturday’s demonstration, which had been announced before the attack, to protest against the banning of pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action under anti-terrorism laws.
Calling for calm on social media on Saturday morning, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said; “I urge anyone thinking about protesting this weekend to recognize and respect the grief of British Jews.”
“This is a moment of mourning. It is not a time to stoke tension and cause further pain. It is a time to stand together,” he said.
Police arrested protesters in Trafalgar Square in central London as they wrote slogans on placards declaring support for Palestine Action, which was proscribed in July after members broke into an airbase and damaged military planes.
As of 1730 GMT, police said 442 people had been arrested around half the number arrested at a similar protest in September.
Crowds of more than 1,000 applauded and cheered those arrested as they were carried through the crowd by police without resisting. Onlookers chanted “shame on you” at officers. “I’m disgusted by the police actually, they shouldn’t be arresting non-violent protesters here,” said protester Angie Zelter. “We have a right to protest and Palestine Action is not a violent organization, should never have been proscribed in the first place.” (Int’l News Desk)
