The Home Secretary has announced plans to crack down on disruptive protests held by environmental groups such as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion.

Home Secretary Suella Braverman has announced new plans to crack down on disruptive protests in a new public order bill.Ms Braverman has said the new bill will prevent demonstrators from holding the public "to ransom".The public order bill will allow ministers and state secretaries to block protests that aim to cause "serious disruption" to key infrastructure and goods and have "serious adverse impacts" on public safety.

Earlier this month, Braverman expressed that the vandalism of property was "not a human right".The new legislation is set to be introduced to MPs next week. Demonstrators can expect to see prison sentences of up to 6 months or "unlimited fines" for "locking on" or attaching themselves to objects and buildings. The bill will also create a new criminal offense in which sentences of up to 12 months can be issued for interfering with key infrastructure. This includes oil refineries, airports, and railways.Additionally, tunnelling beneath key infrastructure can yield a sentence of up to three years in prison.

In the public order bill, police have been given new powers to take a more "proactive" approach to some protests.Ms Braverman has said, "police need strengthened and tougher powers to match the rise in self-defeating protest tactics and that's what the public order will do."The new public order bill comes after an increase in environmental protests and demonstrations throughout the month.

A series of protests by environmental groups Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have taken place throughout the month.Earlier in the year, Britain also saw demonstrations by groups such as Insulate Britain and The Tyre Extinguishers.Since the beginning of October, more than 350 Just Stop Oil protestors have been arrested in London, according to Home Office figures.Thursday saw 20 demonstrators removed and arrested after creating a roadblock at St George's Circus. While on Friday afternoon a group of 24 activists were arrested for spraying orange paint on a sign at New Scotland Yard, the Met's headquarters. Lora Johnson, 38, from Suffolk later pleaded not guilty to criminal damages charges in relation to the incident.

On the same day, two Just Stop Oil demonstrators threw tomato soup at Van Gogh's famous Sunflowers painting at The National Gallery. Anna Holland, 20, from Newcastle, and Phoebe Plummer, 21, from Lambeth also pleaded not guilty to the charges against them.Activists have responded to the bill saying they will not be "intimidated" by a change that is "silencing non-violent people". In addition, the activist also said "our supporters understand that these are irrelevant when set against mass starvation, slaughter, the loss of our rights, freedoms, and communities."When plans for a similar bill were raised earlier this year, former Justice Secretary Dominic Raab described the plans as "oppressive" and "plain nasty".Former Northern Ireland Secretary Lord Hain also called the move the "biggest threat to the right to dissent and the right to protest in my lifetime".