Police are now much more likely to make arrests in pro-Palestinian protests according to the Chairman of the London Assembly Police and Crime Committee, Susan Hall. At Wednesday’s meeting Susan Hall went on to question whether the right to protest under the Human Rights Act 1998 is threatened by making arrests. Louise Puddefoot, T/Commander of Major Operations and Public Order at the Met responded, “No, I don’t think arresting people of criminal offenses impacts on their right to protest.”
The Commander went on to say that, “The vast majority of people attending are protesting peacefully,” expanding on the wider implications of targeted subjects in the protest. Protestors have been seen to block roads and obstruct highways, causing chaos and disruption to Londoners.
Consequently, the Met confirm that they are constantly risk assessing to see if what is happening is causing disruption to such as extent that they need to use enforcement. The committee discussed the police focus recently on prescribed organisations and tact offences due to concerns raised from community that people would not know that they were committing an offence.
Louise Puddefoot explained that there had been lots of police engagement with the community to understand where this line is. “We are grappling with balancing the competing rights of both sides of the community,” she said. However, Simon Hill, Deputy General Secretary and Public Order Lead of the Metropolitan Police Federation, suggested that officers are reluctant to arrest, believing that officers have a lack of confidence to perform that role.