But the new bill would offer much broader powers for the police. It will leave much to their own discretion, and potentially allow them to criminalize protests they deem a public nuisance.
The police would be allowed to set time and noise limits on rallies, and protesters who do not follow restrictions they ought to know about, even if they have not received a direct order from an officer, would be vulnerable to for prosecution.
The bill also makes it possible for those who damage memorials to be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison. That provision comes months after a statue commemorating a slave trader, Edward Colston, was toppled in Bristol last year during a Black Lives Matter demonstration.
The government maintains that the bill provides for better policing and community protection. Priti Patel, the home secretary, said last week that there was a balance to be struck between the rights of the protester and the rights of individuals to go about their daily lives.
Opposition lawmakers and rights groups have denounced what they see as a move to give police overly broad, and potentially problematic, powers. Many say they need more time to work through the potential implications.
The Local Government Association, a cross-party organization, said that certain aspects of the bill, particularly those focused on public protests, warrant further formal consultation. The group expressed concerns that a rushed timetable to vote on the bill left little time to scrutinize the bill in sufficient detail.
The Good Law Project, a British governance watchdog, said in a briefing that the bill represents a serious threat to the right to protest, and called for the portions of the legislation that deal with protests to be dropped.