UK promises further restrictions to clamp down on pro-Palestine protests

The UK government has promised new legislation to crack down on repeated demonstrations in a new move targeting pro-Palestine protesters.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood made the announcement on Saturday in the wake of the arrest of hundreds of demonstrators in London who had gathered to protest the proscription of Palestine Action.

Speaking to Sky News, Mahmood said the police would be given the ability to require protesters to change location if the demonstrators were responsible for "repeated disorder".

"What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption, that is to say the frequency of particular protests in particular places, is in and of itself, a reason for the police to be able to restrict and place conditions," she said.

She stressed that the new legislation would not be "a ban".

"This is about restrictions and conditions that would enable the police to maybe put further time restrictions or move those protests to other places," she said.

The UK government proscribed Palestine Action under anti-terror laws on 4 July, after members broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged two planes with paint and crowbars, saying they were "used for military operations in Gaza and across the Middle East". 

The designation puts the group on a par with al-Qaeda and Islamic State under British law, making it a criminal offence to show support for or invite support for the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison under the Terrorism Act 2000.

The group Defend Our Juries has staged a series of protests demanding the proscription be overturned, drawing growing numbers of people willing to risk arrest under the Terrorism Act for holding signs that read: "I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action."

More than 2,000 people have been arrested since the ban came into force, with 890 people detained at a demonstration in Parliament Square on 6 September, the highest tally yet.

British officials and pro-Israel campaigners had called for Saturday's demonstration to be cancelled in the wake of a deadly attack on a Manchester synagogue on Thursday.

At least two people were killed and four others wounded in the attack on the Heaton Park Hebrew Congregation Synagogue in the Crumpsall area of city of Manchester on Thursday.

The attacker, a Syrian-British man Jihad al-Shamie, drove a car into a crowd and started stabbing people at the synagogue at around 9.30am.

Greater Manchester Police shot the attacker dead at the scene. They later announced that one of the victims had also been killed by police gunfire.

Despite the calls, DOJ refused to cancel the protest on Saturday, saying it would be a win for "terror" if they did so.