Pro-Palestine organisations in the UK have reacted angrily to the government’s plans to grant police new powers to put conditions on repeated demonstrations, describing it as a “draconian assault” on the right to protest.
They have vowed to continue protesting, saying the peace deal brokered by US president Donald Trump did not resolve a number of issues that continue to afflict the Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The ceasefire already appears fragile, with each side accusing the other of breaking it in the hours after the final living hostages were released Monday.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced earlier this month that police forces would be granted new powers to impose tougher conditions on protests by taking account of the “cumulative impact” of previous similar demonstrations.
Speaking to The Independent, Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), described the move as “a further draconian assault on the fundamental right to protest”.
“This potentially has enormous implications. It could mean, for example, ‘you have already protested once, you can’t protest again’,” he added.
Mr Jamal highlighted the lack of clarity in how police are already applying protest restrictions. He claimed that police have previously cited “cumulative impact” to block protest routes where synagogues were within the vicinity of the march.
He said the Palestine Coalition, a network of six groups that have organised the recent marches and protests for Palestine, is prepared to challenge the new rules in the courts.
He added: “The implications are really broad but they are specifically aimed at targeting our movement.
“We also know what’s happened in the past two years is extraordinary, there has not been a body of consistent protests like this in the numbers that we’ve been able to galvanise since the suffragette movement.
“It’s been responding to a fairly unique circumstance, which is a livestreamed genocide, and a continuing complicity by our government in that.”
Israel has strongly denied claims it is committing genocide in Gaza.
A wave of pro-Palestine demonstrations have swept London and other major cities since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023. While they have been largely peaceful, some critics say the demonstrations have allowed antisemitism to spread, with some British Jews saying they feel threatened by chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”.
Tens of thousands of people gathered in central London for a demonstration organised by the Palestine Coalition on Saturday, the day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas came into effect. The PSC has announced further protest action, including a mass walkout at university campuses on Thursday and a boycott of Barclays bank on Saturday.
Ms Mahmood has proposed changes to Sections 12 and 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 to allow authorities to take into account the cumulative impact of frequent or repeated protests when deciding whether to impose conditions, such as altering the route or timing of the events.
She insisted the move was not a ban on protests but "about restrictions and conditions", adding that repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian protests had caused "considerable fear" for the Jewish community.
No timeline has been given for when the new rules might come into effect. Ms Mahmood said a review of current protest legislation was ongoing, and it included looking at powers to ban protests outright. Under existing law, police can ban a march entirely if there is a serious risk of public disorder.
Lindsey German, national convener of the Stop the War Coalition, a member of the Palestine Coalition, argued that Ms Mahmood’s reasoning to pursue more curbs on protest laws did not make sense.
“The whole question of cumulative impact, if you think about a demonstration, they are meant to have an impact,” she told The Independent.
“I first went on a demonstration when I was a teenager, over South Africa. And I went on my last demonstration over South Africa probably 30 years later. They are meant to be effective, they are meant to keep highlighting the issue that hasn’t been resolved.”
Part of the gigantic #Palestine march today in London as it forms up. Solidarity @stwuk pic.twitter.com/BtMKiBN9sT
— Lindsey German (@LindseyAGerman) October 11, 2025
Ms German acknowledged that the ceasefire marked a shift in the conflict, but said it had not removed the need for continued demonstrations. She argued that the peace plan lacked clarity and failed to address key issues, including justice for those responsible for the tens of thousands of deaths in Gaza, the ongoing oppression of Palestinians and the increasing violence in the West Bank.
“We are assuming that we will continue demonstrating over the next few months... We think that is very, very likely,” she said. “We are very concerned about the rules to restrict the law further and we think that, actually, there are too many restrictions on demonstrations as it is… we fear it’s going to be increasingly difficult to protest in London.
“We don’t know what the exact impact will be, it gives police immense control over what you can and can’t do. This is, either way, a denial of our right to protest.”
A Home Office spokesperson 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 made changes to ensure protests are not leaving communities feeling unsafe and intimidated. They mark an important step in ensuring we protect the right to protest, while also ensuring we all feel safe in this country."
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