The Home Office has proposed a new Public Order Bill that includes “serious disruption prevention orders”. The bill would give the police the ability to electronically tag disruptive protesters and limit where they can go, who they can meet, and what they can do online and in real life, regardless of whether they have committed a crime.
The bill would also make locking-on (where protesters lock themselves onto parts of buildings) a criminal offense. Also, disrupting transport works and national infrastructure would be a criminal offense.
The UK’s proposals came months after Canada used extreme emergency powers on Freedom Convoy protesters, including freezing bank accounts, earlier this year, and ahead of a cost of living crisis in the UK that many feel could spur protests.
The provision in the bill aims to restrict what a person can use the internet to do, including, “using the internet to facilitate or encourage persons to carry out activities related to a protest that result in, or are likely to result in, serious disruption to two or more individuals, or to an organization, in England and...
English (US) ·