Pakistani-origin British lawmaker Shabana Mahmood[1] has come under fire after announcing on Sunday that she would grant the police new powers to impose restrictions and conditions on repeat protests, amid a rise in pro-Palestinian demonstrations[2] across the UK.
UK police would be given greater powers to restrict protests as Mahmood said repeated large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations had caused “considerable fear” for the Jewish community. The government initiative follows last week’s deadly knife and car-ramming attack[3] on a synagogue in the northwestern city of Manchester.
“The strengthening of the legislation that I am going to bring about is based on the ability of the police to place conditions and restrictions on protests,” she said in a video posted on her X account.
“What I will be making explicit is that cumulative disruption … the frequency of particular protests in particular places is in and of itself a reason for police to restrict or place conditions.”
In an interview with the BBC[4], she further maintained that the move was not about a ban but about “restrictions and conditions”, such as relocating a demonstration and changing the time of protests.
“What I will make clear in the law is [that] cumulative disruption is in and of itself a reason to place restrictions,” Mahmood said. “There would be protests related to the conflict in the Middle East that would now come into the purview of these changes, as well as other protests.”
When asked about the “dark step” of restricting the fundamental right to protest, the home secretary said, “I don’t think it’s offensive to ask people to show a little humanity towards a community that has suffered such a terrible tragedy … I think just because you have a freedom, it doesn’t mean you have to use it at every moment of every day.”
This move garnered significant backlash from political figures, human rights groups, and other public figures across Britain.
Lawmaker Zarah Sultana wrote in a post on X that the home secretary aimed to ban pro-Palestinian protests, adding that Mahmood was “not content with locking up pensioners and priests for opposing the ban on Palestine Action”.
“She’s (Mahmood) violating our civil liberties and the right to protest — all while supporting the flow of arms to the apartheid genocidal state of Israel,” Sultana wrote. “I hope the ministerial car was worth throwing Palestinians under the bus.”
In an interview with Sky News, UK Green Party leader Zach Polanski called Mahmood “deeply irresponsible” to conflate protests against the Gaza crisis and “weaponising” against the Manchester synagogue attack.
“Democratic nonviolent protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, and I think it’s worrying when governments are increasingly trying to crush down dissent and using what is a brutal attack … to point at a protest and say people don’t have a right to speak out about a genocide,” Polanski said.
British actor and comedian Tez Ilyas posted a photo of Mahmood from 2014, showing her at a protest with a pro-Palestinian picket sign.
“Shabana Mahmood, before she was given access to the corridors of power,” he wrote in the caption.
References
- ^ Shabana Mahmood (www.dawn.com)
- ^ demonstrations (www.dawn.com)
- ^ attack (www.dawn.com)
- ^ BBC (x.com)