Event Summary

The UK’s current social and political landscape, particularly in relation to immigration and social policy, has seen a notable increase in community tensions and more extreme protests fuelled by proliferation of social media, disinformation and misinformation. To prevent these protests escalating into violence the UK Government has expanded police powers to stop protests if there is a reasonable belief that they could cause significant public disorder, property damage, or disruption to the community.

With Lord Macdonald’s independent review of public order and hate crime legislation in England and Wales assessing police powers to manage protests and the balance between free speech and public safety imminent, Westminster Insight’s Managing Public Order and Protests Briefing will bring senior experts in human rights, policing public order, protests and community cohesion to explore the implication of the proposed changes, the importance of local agencies working together to improve community cohesions and prevent hate crime and protests from escalating as well as discuss how to efficiently and effectively manage public disorder and protests.

Key Points

  • Hear about the Independent Review of Public Order and Hate Crime Legislation.
  • We will focus on how to balance safeguarding the fundamental human rights of free speech and peaceful protest and protecting the public from escalating disorder.
  • Learn about really effective intelligence gathering: what factors do you need to establish a reasonable belief that the protest may result in a serious public disorder?
  • Gain insights into local risks and the importance of community context.
  • Hear about planning the management of protests and big events; and how to manage competing demonstrations and protests happening simultaneously.
  • Understand how to stop peaceful protest turning into riots: crowd control psychology.
  • We will look at enhancing capacity to monitor and respond to social media at the national level: how do we stop the spread of misinformation and disinformation? How do we use this to gather information on forthcoming protests?
  • Hear about the importance of place-based policy making in building cohesive communities; and the value of a dialogue-based approach to policing protests
  • We will discuss top down, versus bottom up, training and the importance of stress-testing through realistic exercising.
  • Learn about the impact of disruptive protests and hate crime on community cohesion.
  • Venues, retail outlets, large gatherings: have things changed since the Pandemic? With no major events for approximately two years, what has this meant for the safety of venues, and high streets, for example, and their resilience to crowds and protests?
  • In terms of health and safety, whose responsibility are protests and riots? Do venues, etc., rely too heavily on the Police, and whose responsibility should it be?

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