The UK authorities have created an environment in which peaceful dissent is increasingly treated as a criminal act, Human Rights Watch has said in a new report.
Authorities have severely restricted the right to protest, in contravention of their international human rights obligations, HRW said.
The Labour government, instead of curbing repressive measures against protesters introduced under the previous Conservative government, is in the process of expanding them.
It should repeal anti-democratic protest restrictions and review and publicly account for all protest arrests and convictions made under laws that courts have ruled unlawful, according to HRW.
The report comes amid the backdrop of pro-Israel politicians and media pressuring the government to crack down on pro-Palestine activism.
Terrorism legislation
The 47-page report, “Silencing the Streets: The Right to Protest Under Attack in the UK,” says that Labour has sought to expand anti protest measures through the Crime and Policing Bill 2025 and through the unprecedented misuse of terrorism legislation to target and criminalise peaceful protest.
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“The UK is now adopting protest-control tactics imposed in countries where democratic safeguards are collapsing,” said Lydia Gall, senior Europe and Central Asia researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The UK should oppose such measures, not replicate and endorse them.”
Human Rights Watch said the Labour government has taken a deeply alarming direction on protest rights and appears determined to suppress these rights further instead of ensuring government accountability for policing.
Recent protest restrictions stem from a combination of vague statutory provisions and broad police discretion, creating a legal environment in which authorities can curtail demonstrations with limited oversight.
The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 significantly broaden police powers to impose conditions on protests, carry out pre-emptive arrests, and seek prison sentences for nonviolent protest activity that previously would have resulted in fines or community service.
Research conducted in 2024 and 2025 shows that protesters are increasingly detained, charged, and in some cases sentenced to multi-year prison terms for nonviolent actions, including attending planning meetings. Inconsistent and sometimes arbitrary enforcement of these laws has contributed to confusion and has had a chilling effect on dissent.
The proposed Crime and Policing Bill 2025 would further deepen the crackdown on protest by expanding police powers to ban face coverings at protests, restrict demonstrations near places of worship, and impose conditions that could place people with insecure immigration status, including asylum seekers and undocumented individuals, at risk of deportation. Domestic and international human rights bodies have warned that these measures are vague, disproportionate, and unnecessary.
Crackdown on pro-Palestine activism
The report describes how the Metropolitan Police have used new anti-protest laws to impose conditions on pro-Palestinian marches, including restricting routes and preventing access to certain areas.
These measures were applied even to largely peaceful demonstrations organised by groups such as the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. Organisers reported confusing and inconsistent guidance from police about what conduct would be considered lawful, leading to arbitrary restrictions.
The report recounts an incident in June 2024 in which Muhammad Rabbani of CAGE and several others were arrested at a small solidarity protest outside Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
The arrests followed a dispute over whether placards containing political satire related to a pro-Palestine protest case breached the Public Order Act. Despite prior coordination with police, Rabbani and others were detained, and no charges were ultimately brought.
Human Rights Watch notes that police have, in some cases, relied on broad and ill-defined legal thresholds such as “serious disruption” to restrict pro-Palestinian protests. Lawyers told Human Rights Watch that vague statutory language creates uncertainty for both organisers and police officers about what conduct is criminal, resulting in unnecessary curbs on some demonstrations.
And the report criticises the government’s decision to proscribe Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000. Human Rights Watch and other experts warn that this decision risks criminalising protest supporters and conflating peaceful protest with terrorism, raising serious concerns for freedom of expression. They call on the government to reverse the proscription and to clarify that peaceful dissent should not lead to arrest.
Thousands of people have been arrested at protests opposing the ban on Palestine Action. Many were detained under terrorism legislation for actions such as holding signs in support of the group. Civil liberties organisations and UN human rights experts have criticised these arrests as disproportionate responses to peaceful expression.
Recommendations
The UK remains legally obligated to protect freedom of expression and peaceful assembly under domestic and international law, including the Human Rights Act 1998, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (articles 19 and 21), and the European Convention on Human Rights (articles 10 and 11).
Human Rights Watch said the government should repeal or amend the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023 to remove unnecessary restrictions on protests, strengthen the Human Rights Act to prevent political interference with protests, and end the use of counterterrorism legislation against protesters.
The organisation also called on the UK government to establish a substantial public inquiry into the policing of protests under these laws and to ensure that protest policing complies with international human rights standards.
“The UK should be protecting the right to protest instead of stripping away people’s rights,” Gall said. “Lawmakers should revise the new law to remove measures that would further restrict the right to protest.”
