Britain renews request to tighten police powers due to street protests

Britain has renewed its attempt to give police more power to impose restrictions on street protests, but a civil rights group criticised the decision as a worrying disregard for the rule of law.

The Liberty group successfully challenged changes to public order laws made by the country's previous Conservative government. The High Court in London ruled in May that the government had exceeded its powers by lowering the bar for police to impose conditions.

The Home Office's appeal against the ruling was postponed in July – shortly after Labour won the general election – to allow talks with Liberty about the change.

The new British government decided this month to pursue the appeal, with Liberty director Akiko Hart calling the decision disappointing.

A spokesman for the Interior Ministry said all public order laws must be balanced against the fundamental right to demonstrate.

“However, we disagree with the court's decision in this case and have appealed the decision,” the spokesman said.

Liberty's case revolved around the Public Order Act, which allows police to impose conditions on protests that could cause “serious disruption to public life.” The law was changed last year to allow police to impose conditions if a protest could cause “more than minor” disruption.

Liberty said the new powers gave police almost unlimited powers to crack down on protests, citing the arrest of Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg in the UK, who was later acquitted.

The High Court ruled that the new powers were unlawful but stayed the revocation of the new powers pending an appeal.