Regulations that lowered the threshold for police intervening in protests were unlawful, the high court has ruled.
The government lowered the threshold for what is considered “serious disruption” to community life, from “significant” and “prolonged” to “more than minor”.
The regulations came after the government tried to introduce the same changes when the public order bill went through parliament, but they were rejected by the Lords at the time by 254 votes to 240.
The step to restore the provisions by statutory instrument, which faces less scrutiny than primary legislation, was criticised at the time but passed last year.
At a hearing in February, lawyers for Liberty asked the high court to quash the “unlawful” provision.
“If we are correct in our conclusion that ‘serious’ does not include ‘more than minor’, that affects how the police apply the connected concepts of ‘disruption’ and ‘cumulative’ because it is critical context to those provisions.”
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Torries are partly classical liberal. "Classical liberalism" is just liberalism mixed with nationalism, like some peanut butter and jelly sandwich from hell. Of course they'd be pro subverting the masses. But hopefully the courts shall prevail. If not, Brexit will be the least of the UK's worries.