The Protest Powers Police, Crime, Sentencing And Courts Act 2022 simplified
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 aims to give the police more authority to impose conditions on public assemblies and processions. This includes the ability to set start and finish times and maximum noise levels for assemblies, which matches the conditions already in place for processions. However, the Act does not grant the police or any other body the ability to ban protests. The police will only be able to impose conditions on unjustifiably noisy protests that cause harm to others or prevent an organisation from operating, and only when it is deemed necessary and proportionate.
The ability to protest outside of Parliament, the heart of democracy, will not be affected by this legislation. The act does not introduce any new restrictions in the controlled area of Parliament Square, and the Secretary of State has the power to specify a new area for prohibited activities if either House of Parliament is, or is proposed to be, relocated from the Palace of Westminster.
The measures do not ban protests that are merely annoying, but rather the public nuisance offense captures behavior that causes the public or a section of the public to suffer serious annoyance. The maximum sentence for the offense of public nuisance is 10 years imprisonment, which is lower than the current unlimited crown court penalties. The government is working closely with law enforcement agencies to provide guidance on the use of these new powers.
