Protesters who wear masks and scale monuments risk jail time and fines.

The Home Office has proposed strict rules that may put protestors in jail or subject them to heavy penalties as part of a broad crackdown on public unrest. Protesters in England and Wales who conceal their faces to avoid identity or scale national monuments may be arrested under the proposed revisions to the Criminal Justice Bill, which carries a maximum sentence of three months in prison and a fine of £1,000.

The Home Office intends to make it illegal for people to carry flares and other pyrotechnics to protests in an effort to suppress disruptive behavior. If found in possession of such items, offenders risk a £1,000 fine. Furthermore, as the administration works to tighten laws, the freedom to protest will no longer be an excuse for transgressions like roadblocking.

James Cleverly, the home secretary, stressed the need to stop disruptive behavior during rallies and described the use of flares to cause damage and disturbance as dangerous rather than a form of peaceful dissent. Chief Constable BJ Harrington of Essex Police backed the proposed actions, emphasizing the need to strike a balance between the rights of demonstrators and public safety.

Civil rights organizations, on the other hand, have fiercely criticized the government’s plans, claiming that they severely violate people’s right to demonstrate. Human rights group Liberty denounced the plans as an attack on democratic rights and warned that they may make nonviolent protest illegal.

The government’s action has caused controversy; Liberty is currently involved in a court dispute on earlier “anti-protest powers.” The plans, which will be presented as amendments at the Bill’s report stage in the Commons despite the resistance, will likely spark a heated discussion over the boundaries of public order and protest.