Priti Patel will today push ahead with controversial new laws that could jail protesters for six months.
New offences would force prison terms on activists who lock, chain or glue themselves to railings, gates or other objects.
That could have seen a jail term for Will Young, the Pop Idol singer who padlocked himself to the gates of a puppy breeding facility earlier this month.
The last-minute amendments would also impose six months jail on activists who wilfully obstruct highways or the construction of major works like HS2.
Courts would get powers to impose prevention orders on protesters future behaviour, even if theyre not convicted of a crime.
And police would get sweeping new powers to stop and search protesters, even without suspicion a crime was committed.
It could have affected singer Will Young, pictured locked to the gates of a puppy farm
Ms Patel claimed the laws were to crack down on groups like Insulate Britain - but opponents said the effect will be far-reaching.
She said: We have seen some of the most self-defeating and dangerous protests ever seen in recent years with people gluing themselves to roads and locking themselves to vehicles and buildings, causing serious disruption to the law-abiding majority across the country.
These are selfish actions which drain the police of resources.
But Liberty has warned the laws restrict and criminalise protest on top of measures already agreed in the Police, Crime, Courts and Sentencing Bill.
Even before the new amendments, the Bill will already make it illegal to inflict serious annoyance on a person without reasonable excuse, with up to 10 years jail in theory if judges choose.
Nothing authoritarian about Patel or the Tories. It is just now illegal to make a "disturbance" (disturbance not defined) while protesting and you will be jailed for it, along with letting police search you for any reason they want, and if you happen to be in the vicinity of a protest? Jail.
I wonder if all the right wing nut jobs screaming about masks will protest this.
Apologies for the shitty link, but been fuck all reporting on this other than demonising protestors by the media. ---