‘Close to a police state’: campaign groups condemn UK report into protests
Protest groups have condemned a long-awaited report on their activity that recommends a review of undercover surveillance of activists and making protest organisers pay towards policing.
The 292-page report by John Woodcock, now Lord Walney, entitled Protecting Democracy from Coercion, calls for a curb on many activities, including a blanket ban on face coverings at protests and making it easier for businesses to claim damages from protesters who cause disruption.
Questions remain over whether the report’s 41 recommendations will ever reach the statute books after both government and Labour sources declined to commit to any of its findings.
Human rights organisations and environmental groups said the recommendations – which include a review of whether undercover surveillance is being used to police public order – will weaken democracy.
Areeba Hamid, a co-director of Greenpeace, issued a warning about the implications of Woodcock’s proposals. “Applying the review’s recommendations would be a sure-fire way to weaken British democracy and bring us as close to becoming a police state as we’ve ever been,” she said.
Shami Chakrabarti, the human rights lawyer and author, said: “There is nothing new or enlightened or helpful in the project of bringing people together in polarised times.”
The much-previewed report’s findings also call for:
Protest buffer zones around MPs’ constituency offices and local council chambers.
A change in the law to allow the police to consider the cumulative effect of protests on antisemitic hate crime levels.
The intimidation of candidates and campaigners to be specifically criminalised before the next election.
The lord chancellor and lord chief justice to review whether juries and judges are more lenient on protesters who support “progressive” causes such as fighting climate change and anti-racism.
The government to boost physical protection for private defence companies against protesters.
The intelligence services and relevant government departments to be given more resources to identify disinformation online and to work with technology companies to have it removed.
The report stopped short of naming any specific organisation that should be banned, as the Guardian disclosed on Monday.
But groups criticised within the body of the report said that Woodcock had abused parliamentary privilege by publishing it as a “motion for unopposed return”, ensuring that activists could not sue over its findings.
The communities secretary, Michael Gove, hailed the proposals on Tuesday. Speaking in north London, he said the report was “brilliant” and that its recommendations were “far reaching and compelling”.
Huda Ammori, of Palestine Action, an anti-arms trade group discussed extensively in the report, and who was named personally, accused Woodcock of “going on a defamation rampage, and using parliamentary privilege to cover it”.
The report showed Woodcock consulted with Elbit, an Israeli arms company whose UK operations have been subject to repeated direct action protests by Palestine Action. But some protesters named within the report said they were given no right of reply.
Just Stop Oil, the climate campaign group, which Woodcock also mentioned at length, pointed to Woodcock’s work as a paid lobbyist for fossil fuel companies. “Just Stop Oil does not recognise the legitimacy of this report,” the body said.
Woodcock told the Guardian he had maintained an objective standard and sought a wide range of views while writing the report.
In a blow to restrictions on demonstrators, the high court on Tuesday ruled that the former home secretary Suella Braverman acted unlawfully in making it easier for the police to criminalise peaceful protests.
She was found to have acted outside her powers and to have failed to consult properly over regulations that would be likely to increase prosecutions of protesters by a third.
Hundreds of protesters have been arrested since the government redefined the type of protest that could be restricted by the police, allowing it where there is merely a “more than minor” hindrance to people’s daily lives.
Those prosecuted included the climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was acquitted of all charges at a hearing in February.
James Cleverly, the home secretary, said he would consider Woodcock’s recommendations.
He said: “The right to protest is a vital part of democracy, but there is absolutely no place for criminality or harassment on our streets. Too often, we have seen vile displays of hate crime and aggressive tactics used by so-called protesters.
“Lord Walney’s report raises important questions on the cumulative impact of disruptive and extremist activity on our communities. I thank Lord Walney and his team for this extensive and compelling report.”