Police will be given the power to arrest people if they are wearing face coverings at specific demonstrations, the Home Office has said.
Demonstrators will no longer be able to use the right to protest as a reasonable excuse if they commit public order offences such as serious disruption.
The move is in direct response to the four protesters who were cleared of toppling the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston in 2022 after they claimed they were exercising their rights to freedom of expression, thought and conscience.
Another new offence will make the possession of flares, fireworks and any other pyrotechnics at public processions and assemblies for protest illegal. Perpetrators may be forced to pay a £1,000 fine. It follows the use of flares and fireworks at protests against the Israel-Gaza war.
The changes, affecting England and Wales, will be added as amendments to the criminal justice bill. The bill is going through parliament and could become law by Easter.
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