header-logo header-logo

Home Login E-newsletter About us
19 June 2026 / Neil Parpworth
Issue: 8166 / Categories: Features , Public , Human rights
printer mail-detail

To ban or not to ban?

© Copyright LexisNexis 2026. All Rights Reserved.
252782
© NEIL HALL/EPA/Shutterstock
Neil Parpworth considers the decision to ban the Al Quds march & associated counter-protests
  • Looks at s 13, Public Order Act 1986, when and under what circumstances it is used, and the political and legal context around a recent ban on public processions in London.

Banning public processions is not a course of action which is often taken in England and Wales. Thus, writing in 1985, LH Leigh noted that ‘in the period from 1951 to 1979, only nine banning orders were made in England and Wales’. As he proceeded to observe, ‘the power to ban is obviously highly sensitive politically in a free society, and of this chief officers of police are well aware’: see Police Powers in England and Wales (1985, 2nd ed) Butterworths, p196.

Following the enactment of the Human Rights Act 1998, any proposed banning order is now potentially subject to legal challenge on the grounds that it represents a disproportionate and unreasonable interference with freedom of expression and the right to peaceful assembly,

If you are not a subscriber, subscribe now to read this content
If you are already a subscriber sign in
...or Register for two weeks' free access to subscriber content

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Read All
Sponsored by
Womble Bond Dickinson—Paula Myers

Womble Bond Dickinson—Paula Myers

Womble Bond Dickinson appoints Paula Myers to private capital team in Leeds

mfg Solicitors—five promotions

mfg Solicitors—five promotions

Law firm mfg Solicitors announces five promotions at Birmingham office

Brabners—six promotions

Brabners—six promotions

Brabners adds six to partnership in record year for partner promotions

NEWS
Read All
NLJ this week: Raising the age bar
Calls to raise the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14 have been renewed, with the Bar Council arguing the current threshold criminalises children too early and risks pushing them towards lifelong offending
NLJ this week: Beyond AI hallucinations
The legal profession's AI challenge extends far beyond fabricated case citations, according to a warning about the next phase of technological risk
NLJ this week: AML supervision shake-up
Law firms should use the transition period before the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) assumes anti-money laundering (AML) supervision to strengthen governance and compliance, experts have warned
NLJ this week: Options for global evidence gathering
Cross-border disputes increasingly demand creative approaches to gathering evidence, with litigators needing to look beyond traditional letters of request
NLJ this week: Indefinite or forever?
A Court of Appeal ruling has clarified the distinction between contracts of 'indefinite' and 'perpetual' duration, with potentially significant implications for commercial drafting
Copyright © 2026 LexisNexis
back-to-top-scroll