On 14 April, Lord Strasburger published an op-ed in Middle East Eye making clear the Liberal Democrats’ strong opposition to the authoritarian anti-protest measures in the Crime and Policing Bill and warning that the government’s suppression of Pro-Palestinian activism risks undermining protest rights for everyone.

In the article, Lord Strasburger argues that recent legislation represents part of a broader shift in how protest is treated in Britain — from a protected democratic right and towards something increasingly conditional on the judgement of ministers and police.

He highlights in particular the Bill’s new “cumulative impact” clause, which would allow protests to be restricted simply because they take place repeatedly in the same location:

“From women’s suffrage to civil rights to anti-war movements, meaningful change has always depended on people returning, again and again, to make their voices heard. Curtailing protest simply because it is persistent strikes at the heart of that tradition.”

Lord Strasburger also warns that the government’s use of terrorism powers to proscribe Palestine Action risks setting a dangerous precedent for future protest movements:

“This is the first time an organisation has been proscribed as a ‘terrorist’ group solely on the basis of property damage, rather than injury to people… it risks establishing a dangerously low threshold under which any politically inconvenient protest could be treated as terrorism.”

He concludes by cautioning that these developments are not isolated measures, but part of a wider trend that could reshape the future of protest rights in the UK:

“The precedents being set now will shape the toolkit available to tomorrow’s governments. In today’s volatile political climate, we cannot assume those governments will always exercise such powers with restraint, or with regard for the liberal values we take for granted in Britain today.”