Right to protest facing ‘unprecedented crisis’ amid successive reforms

The right to protest in England and Wales is facing an “unprecedented crisis” after successive governments have shifted the law’s focus from facilitating peaceful protest to suppressing it, a report has warned.

In findings published by law reform organisation Justice, it examines how reforms in the past few years “risk destabilising the public order legal framework, eroding fundamental protections and the criminalisation of legitimate democratic expression”.

It comes as the Crime and Policing Bill, currently going through Parliament, seeks to give police more powers to limit repeat protests and ban demonstrators wearing face coverings.

Human Rights Watch has also published a report outlining similar concerns on Thursday, warning UK authorities have “severely restricted” the right to protest in breach of its international human rights commitments and created an environment where peaceful dissent is “increasingly treated as a criminal act”.

From its research in 2024 and 2025, it found protesters are “increasingly detained, charged and in some cases sentenced to multi-year jail terms” for non-violent action such as going to and planning meetings.

Both organisations warn of the restrictive reforms under the Conservative’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and Public Order Act 2023 which brought in more discretion for officers to set conditions on protest, and more restrictions in relation to noise and new offences around “locking-on”.

HRW added the Labour Government has taken a “deeply alarming direction” in seeking to suppress rights further rather than reverse such laws.

Justice chief executive Fiona Rutherford said: “Year by year, we see police powers grow, as our fundamental right to protest is treated more like a privilege.

“The law in this area has become dangerously unbalanced, empowering the state to silence voices it should be safeguarding. Reversing this trend is essential to restoring trust, protecting rights and preserving a healthy democracy.”

HRW’s senior Europe and Central Asia researcher, Lydia Gall, added: “The UK is now adopting protest-control tactics imposed in countries where democratic safeguards are collapsing.

“The UK should oppose such measures, not replicate and endorse them.”

Both groups are calling for ministers to repeal some of the measures introduced since 2022, while Justice is also pressing for a pause on new protest legislation until a monitoring body is set up to review protest policing.

Policing

HRW is also calling for the Government to set up a public inquiry into policing of protests under the new 2022 and 2023 laws and ensure protest policing complies with international law.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: “The right to protest is fundamental to our democracy, and it is a long-standing tradition in this country that people are free to demonstrate their views.

“The Home Secretary recently announced an independent review of existing public order legislation.

“This will ensure police powers remain fit for purpose, consistent and strike the right balance between protecting the public and upholding the right to lawful protest.”

Former director of public prosecutions, Lord Macdonald KC, is leading the review set to conclude next month.