Police to get broader powers to restrict repeated protests

Police forces will be granted powers to put conditions on repeat protests, the government has announced, a day after nearly 500 protesters were arrested.

Senior officers will be able to consider the "cumulative impact" of previous protests, the Home Office said, which could mean they instruct organisers to hold events elsewhere if a site has seen repeated demonstrations.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme the move was not a ban on protests but "about restrictions and conditions".

Organisers of Saturday's protests, against Palestine Action being made a proscribed terror organisation, had been urged to postpone them after two men were killed in an attack at a synagogue in Manchester.

Police forces had warned resources would be stretched, with officers across the country are offering additional support to the 538 synagogues across the country as well as other Jewish community sites.

The new powers will be "brought forward as soon as possible", the Home Office said.

While the right to protest is fundamental "this freedom must be balanced with the freedom of their neighbours to live their lives without fear", Mahmood said.

Mahmood said large, repeated protests could leave sections of the country, particularly religious communities, "feeling unsafe, intimidated and scared to leave their homes".

Mahmood said this had been particularly evident within the Jewish community recently.

She told Laura Kuenssberg she was "very worried about the state of community relations in our country".

"I know I, as the home secretary, have a responsibility to think about the action the government can take to strengthen our communities, to make sure people are well-integrated into our society," she said.

The home secretary will carry out a review of current protest legislation to "ensure powers are sufficient and being applied consistently", the government said.

This will include powers to ban protests outright, the government said.

Asked about the protests Mahmood said: "I think just because you have a freedom doesn't mean to say you have to use it at every moment of every day, those people could have just waited a day or two and given people the chance to grieve and process what has happened."

Most of those arrested at protests on Saturday were held on suspicion of supporting the proscribed group Palestine Action.

Organisers Defend Our Juries said around 1,000 took part in demonstrations around Trafalgar Square against the ban on the group.

Hundreds of people have been arrested since the group was outlawed by former home secretary Yvette Cooper in the summer, predominantly for holding signs saying they support Palestine Action.

Organisers had been asked to cancel Saturday's demonstration following the attack on a synagogue in Manchester

Organisers of Saturday's protest had been asked to reconsider their plans following the killing of two men at the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation synagogue on Yom Kippur - the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar.

But Defend Our Juries said in a statement beforehand it hoped police "choose to prioritise protecting the public from real terrorism, and not waste resources on enforcing the absurd and ridiculous ban on Palestine Action".

Adrian Daulby and Melvin Cravitz were killed after Jihad Al-Shamie drove a car into people outside synagogue in Manchester.

Al-Shamie then tried to force his way into the building before being shot dead by armed police. Three others were injured in the attack.

Several arrests have been made in relation to the attack and Mahmood said four people remained in custody on Sunday morning.

The home secretary will write to chief constables on Sunday to encourage them to use all their powers to prevent and respond to public disorder, as well as thanking them for their response following Thursday's attack.

Police forces are working with the Community Security Trust, a charity which works to protect Jewish people from terror and antisemitism, to reassure the Jewish community, the home office said.

On Sunday, the Board of Deputies of British Jews is holding a commemorative event ahead of Tuesday's second anniversary of the 7 October attacks on southern Israel, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.