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Priti Patel to give police powers to stop disruptive protesters going to demos

Published 11:45 5 Oct 2021 BST

Updated 11:46 5 Oct 2021 BST

Danny Jones

Priti Patel to give police powers to stop disruptive protesters going to demos

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Priti's putting more pressure on protestors

Protesters will be prevented from moving around the country in a plan by Priti Patel to stop further disruptions on motorways. The Home Secretary is expected to announce boosting police powers at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester on Tuesday, as Insulate Britain continues to cause chaos, despite a court injunction being granted a week ago to stop them. A Tory party source told the BBC the powers will target people with a "history of disruption", or those likely to commit crime. [caption id="attachment_292188" align="alignnone" width="1024"]

Credit: Getty - Priti Patel at the Conservative Party Conference[/caption]

The 'criminal disruption prevention' orders will be used to halt the movement of “prolific offenders” and where there is either a history of disruption or intelligence suggests they are likely to commit a criminal offence during a protest.

Boris Johnson alluded to her upcoming speech in an interview with LBC on Tuesday morning, commenting that the likes of Insulate Britain are not only stopping people from getting to work, but also doing significant damage to the economy. He added: “That is why we have taken the powers and why Priti Patel is doing the right thing to bring in powers so they can get six months or an unlimited fine.”

https://twitter.com/LBC/status/1445289994025848836?s=20

Activists have previously been warned they could face fines and up to six months in prison for disrupting major roads across the UK, as well as other critical national infrastructures such as information and network systems, railways, and newspaper printing presses.

These new measures are set to be included in the new Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill that sparked outrage across the country earlier this year and which is going through Parliament. Patel is set to speak around 5pm, alongside helping deliver the government's latest Covid briefing.