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The protests will be allowed to take place from March 29 after the government sought to quell the fury that erupted after police surveillance of the Sarah Everard vigil.
Just a day after Home Secretary Priti Patel urged people not to attend the rallies, Downing Street said the ban on organized gatherings would be lifted when stay-at-home rules were relaxed later this year. month.
But the move has already sparked anger, with critics pointing out that while people will be allowed to go on marches with hundreds of others, they will still be banned from gathering with groups of friends or attending large weddings or funerals.
Sir Graham Brady, chairman of the Tory backbench 1922 committee, said: “This paradox highlights the importance of returning to a world in which we depend on common sense and on people taking responsibility for themselves and others.
“The important thing must be that efforts are made to limit any possible negative impacts and we do not constantly cling to complex, arbitrary and constantly changing regulations.”
Steve Baker, vice president of the covid recovery group, said the move highlighted inconsistencies in coronavirus restrictions.
“I am afraid that the search for total policy coherence is a failure. We will never see full logical consistency because while they are suppressing the virus, they are only allowing the minimum amount of social contact, “he said.
Brian Booth, president of the West Yorkshire Police Federation, said the roadmap out of lockdown is likely to be littered with inconsistencies that would lead to public confusion and make it difficult for the police to work.
He said: “This highlights what the problem has been from the beginning. There have been so many changes to Covid regulations now that the public is understandably confused about what is guidance and what is law and what they are and are not allowed to do.
“Allowing protests but no other meetings will surely create confusion and officials will have to deal with that.”
Police anger at lack of government support
The move comes after the Metropolitan Police faced heavy criticism for disrupting a vigil for Miss Everard on Clapham Common on Saturday night.
Dame Cressida Dick, the Met commissioner, defended the decision to enforce the closing rules by splitting the meeting. But he said Covid laws had put police in a “hateful position” and left them trying to navigate “devilishly difficult” regulations.
Announcing the decision to allow the protests, the prime minister’s spokesman said: “The stay-at-home order will be lifted on March 29, which means that it is no longer illegal to leave your home except for the exemptions we are all familiar with.” .
However, protests will only be allowed if they are safe from Covid and the organizers have submitted a risk assessment first.
A senior police leader welcomed the move, but said there was anger, especially among Met officials, that the government had not backed them when necessary.
The source said: “As the commissioner said, the police have been in an unfair position in trying to balance the Human Rights Law and the right to protest against health regulations. The government’s position that it is up to you to solve it has not been helpful, to say the least. ”
Patel ordered an urgent review of Scotland Yard’s actions on Saturday night amid allegations that police had been harsh in breaking the vigil.
The debate sparked by the abduction and murder of Ms. Everard has led to calls for stricter laws to prevent violence and abuse against women.
Calls to make misogyny a hate crime
Three police officers and crime commissioners on Tuesday called for the misogyny to be turned into a hate crime, to allow police to track and prosecute street abuse against women.
It means that offenders could face longer sentences if the prosecution could persuade a judge or magistrate that the crime was motivated by misogyny.
Katy Bourne, the Sussex PCC, has also asked the Home Secretary to introduce a new crime of sexual harassment in public, a measure that is currently being considered by the Home Office.
Ms Bourne said that a “cultural shift” was needed throughout society, and that concerns about the way women were treated came to a head over the abduction and murder of Ms Everard.
“This microaggression that women and girls experience every day is endemic,” she said. “We can change as a society. You need legislation to change this. I think misogyny should be a hate crime. But I would like to go further. I think we should make public sexual harassment a crime. ”
Meanwhile, Dominic Raab, the chancellor, who holds a black belt in karate, said that the public had a duty to intervene if they saw a woman being harassed on the street, as he revealed that he had challenged a person in such a situation. and the perpetrator had “gone with his tail between his legs.”
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