The police must manage protests appropriately

Balancing the right to protest with the rights of others to go about their lawful business is an age-old conundrum. The recent spate of mass demonstrations against Israel’s actions in Gaza have brought this once again to the fore.

There are laws against intimidation and extolling extremism that appear to have been broken on sundry occasions without action being taken. The police say they need to ensure public order and defend freedom of expression and no-one doubts they have a difficult job getting this right. But there is a sense that they err too often on the side of the protesters, especially when they claim to espouse so-called “progressive” causes.

A new report from the Policy Exchange think-tank suggests that the police have made mistakes in the way they have handled the pro-Palestine marches. The Met’s assistant commissioner Matt Twist concedes that when the protests began shortly after the Israeli invasion of Gaza they did not move quickly enough to arrest people calling for “jihad”, though he said this was on the advice of lawyers and the Crown Prosecution Service. Mr Twist says they are now much more focused on identifying reasonable grounds for arrest, acting where needed and detaining when necessary.

It is important that the police get this right. A poll for Policy Exchange shows the public overwhelmingly supports intervention in disruptive protests, including against people holding banners containing racist or derogatory slogans. The Government is undertaking a review of protest laws which the report says have developed in an unduly ‘pro-protestor’ way, leaving ordinary members of the public unable to undertake their normal day to day activities as a result.

People unable to get to work because climate change protestors have blocked the road or cannot visit city centres because they have become regular weekend settings for mass demonstrations want to see this sorted out.