Anti-protest law now void as Government drops appeal against Liberty victory

• Liberty defeats anti-protest law as Government decides not to appeal Court of Appeal defeat
• Protests no longer able to have conditions imposed on them for ‘more than minor’ disruption
• Liberty calls for arrests and convictions under defeated law to be urgently reviewed

Human rights organisation Liberty has called for an urgent review of all arrests and convictions made under unlawful anti-protest laws that the Government was forced to quash.

The call follows Liberty’s success in the Court of Appeal which found anti-protest laws introduced by Suella Braverman had been made unlawfully.

The Government has now quietly dropped its defence of these anti-protest laws which lowered the threshold for police to shut down demonstrations and arrest those taking part. Liberty has declared the development ‘a victory for protest rights’.

The Government’s decision not to take the case any further means the laws have now been quashed. Liberty said this is “a step forward for the right to protest”, but also that “justice now needs to be served for anybody wrongfully arrested or convicted under these laws that should never have existed in the first place”.

Last month (2 May 2025) the Court of Appeal agreed with an earlier ruling of the High Court (May 2024) that then-Home Secretary Suella Braverman did not have the power to create regulations which lowered the threshold of when the police can impose conditions on protests from anything that caused ‘serious disruption’ to anything that was deemed as causing ‘more than minor’ disruption.

Now the Government has decided not to appeal for a second time, the legislation reverts to the previous higher threshold, meaning the police will not be able to intervene in as many protests.

Liberty has said all arrests and convictions under the law now need to be urgently reviewed.

Akiko Hart, Liberty Director said:

“Our ability to make ourselves heard is fundamental in a democracy and must be protected. This Government has finally seen sense and this backdown is a step forward for the right to protest after years of attacks by those in power.”

“But while this case dragged on, the police used these regulations to funnel protesters into the criminal system. Justice now needs to be served for anybody wrongfully arrested or convicted under these laws that should never have existed in the first place, and the Government must urgently review every case.”