The home secretary, James Cleverly, is considering tightening the law around demonstrations, including requiring protesters to give longer notice for large protests in England and Wales. Policing minister Chris Philp said extending the notice period from six days to 'a couple of weeks' for 'very, very large protests with tens of thousands of people' would aid police planning. The government stressed it would not seek to prevent future pro-Palestinian protests.
Organisers of pro-Palestine protests rejected criticism by Cleverly, who said they had 'made their point', and vowed to continue regular demonstrations. Cleverly told the Times: 'The question I ask myself is: what are these protests genuinely hoping to achieve?' Groups behind the marches said they were in talks with police about another major demonstration in London on 9 March.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) and others said they would deliver a dossier of complaints to the Metropolitan police, accusing the force of 'politicised, heavy-handed and violent' policing and a Twitter campaign implying demonstrations were threatening. Liberty, which launched a legal challenge against 'anti-protest' laws, questioned the need for new laws when measures on face coverings and war memorials had recently been introduced.
Rishi Sunak, Cleverly and Philp were due to meet police chiefs to discuss bolstering MPs' security. Philp said protests outside MPs' private homes were 'not a legitimate venue for protest'. The PSC said it did not support such protests but considered constituency offices legitimate. Cleverly announced a £31m funding package for MPs' security, including dedicated police contacts.
Labour MP John McDonnell warned against 'chipping away' at protest rights, saying it pushes people to extremes. Labour's Jess Phillips noted she had 'got on the tube with some protesters... and we chatted cordially and kindly'.
