Support Our Mission
Read Our Latest Edition
BYLINE TIMES IMPACT: Find out about the changes you made happen
Successive Government clampdowns on the right to protest have had a “chilling effect”, human rights campaigners have warned, as large parts of the UK remain in a state of drought, and wildfires continue to rage.
The human rights organisation Liberty argues that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022, the Public Order Act 2023, and the Crime and Policing Act 2026 have significantly curtailed the capacity of the climate movement to participate in protest and other forms of direct action.
The Acts include various new restrictions on protest and impose much harsher sentences for people who break these laws. For instance, people found to be in breach of the Public Order Act can also face unlimited fines.
In July 2024, five Just Stop Oil activists were sentenced to four to five years for conspiracy to cause a public nuisance under the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act, after discussing an M25 protest on Zoom. Following an appeal supported by Friends of the Earth and Greenpeace UK, the court found the sentences “manifestly excessive” and reduced them.
Hundreds more have been arrested for taking part in climate protests.
Receive the monthly Byline Times newspaper and help to support fearless, independent journalism that breaks stories, shapes the agenda and holds power to account.
SUBSCRIBE TODAY
We’re not funded by a billionaire oligarch or an offshore hedge-fund. We rely on our readers to fund our journalism. If you like what we do, please subscribe.
The most recent Home Office data on the use of protest powers was published earlier this year and found that since 2022, around 90% of the protests with police restrictions applied to them were ‘environment’ related.
Liberty has also raised concerns that the Crime and Policing Act 2026 was rushed through before the publication of Lord Macdonald’s Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation, which was commissioned by Keir Starmer’s Government and is expected to make key recommendations on reforming protest laws.
The campaigners argue that protest is critical to a healthy democracy and are urging the new Prime Minister to “change course” from previous governments.
A recent Ipsos poll showed that 74% of Britons are concerned about climate change following a severe heatwave summer, up from 69% before the summer.
In an interview with Byline Times, Melissa Dring, interim head of policy and campaigns at Liberty, said a spate of anti-protest laws have “layered on new restrictions, new offences and new penalties” onto protestors – from arrest and imprisonment to electronic tagging and unlimited fines in some circumstances – as well as giving police new powers to enforce the law.
“We’ve ended up with quite a confusing situation, both for protesters and for the police in terms of enforcing it. It’s difficult for people to know how to protest in a way that is within the bounds of the law, how to do so lawfully and safely. That’s why we say it has become harder and riskier for people to protest,” she said.
SIGN UP TO EMAIL UPDATES
The recent Crime and Policing Act is now in force, giving police the power to designate an area as a mask-free zone, so that no one is allowed to wear a face covering within it.
Dring said: “There was a defence inserted for health, religious and work purposes – but it’s a defence, not an exemption. That means anyone who does wear a mask, for example for health purposes, and happens to be in an area designated as a mask-free zone, can be arrested, and only then, at charging stage or even at court, can they use that defence and say, ‘Well, I was wearing a mask for health reasons.'”
Other anti-protest laws – passed under both the Conservatives and Labour in recent years – mean “there’s a clear line to be drawn between those new restrictions and why we’re not seeing really big environmental protests,” according to Liberty.
The non-…