Arts SU wants to actively support and facilitate students to campaign and protest safely at UAL.

Protest Guide

Arts SU wants to actively support and facilitate students to campaign and protest safely at UAL.

How to campaign and protest safely at UAL 

Knowledge is power, particularly when organising and participating in campaign and protest action. Arts SU wants to actively support and facilitate students to campaign and protest safely at UAL.  

Students have, throughout history, effectively used grassroots campaigning and protest to challenge universities, governments, as well as global systems of inequality and exploitation. 2026 has been no different with students across the UK protesting institutional complicity in genocide; the impact of funding cuts on their education; as well the climate crisis.  

This page provides information on protest and campaign safety for UAL students as well as links to experienced and trustworthy organisations supporting protesters and campaigners across the UK.  

Disclaimer: This page is not intended to be used as legal advice. For information on how to get legal advice, please see Liberty’s ‘I need a lawyer’ page  or find contact details of law firms with protest law expertise on Liberty’s  bust cards. 

Your Legal Rights to Protest at UAL 

  • Everyone has the right to protest and organise protests. 

  • Universities like UAL are considered public authorities for the purposes of the Human Rights Act – as such, they are required to act compatibly with your human rights under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR).   

  • The law, specifically the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, requires universities to actively promote freedom of speech. 

  • Universities are required by law to have an up-to-date code of practice about securing freedom of speech. UAL’s Code of Practice: Freedom of Expression | UAL 

  • Under the Equality Act 2010 it is unlawful for UAL to discriminate against you based on protected characteristics, including race, religion and philosophical beliefs. 

  • Every College at UAL will have a campus security and safety team. University security staff are not police – generally, they do not have the same level of law enforcement powers.    

  • Static Demonstration: You have no legal obligation to notify the police of a ‘public assembly’ (i.e. a static demonstration), and protest rights organisations including Green and Black Cross strongly advise against doing so. 

UAL’s Code of Practice on Free of Expression and Protest 

  • There is a strong legal obligation for UAL to allow, and crucially, not prevent peaceful protest as well as political events on campus.

  • However, some important scenarios outlined in UAL’s Code of Practice tell us when UAL could reasonably intervene in student protest.

​Possible Reasons for Intervention

  • Conduct: UAL makes clear that staff and students should not engage in conduct that disrupts or prevents meetings, teaching and other activities of the University. In addition, if UAL considers a lawful protest or public action might lead to disorder and/or threatens safety, they can cancel an event or protest.  

    • Guidance: It is important to think about how your protest will engage with the activities of the University and what strategy and tactics you want to use.  

  • Permission: As outlined throughout the code, the starting point for any event is that it should go ahead. If you follow the guidance provided here, it is unlikely that UAL will have legitimate grounds to cancel your protest. 

    • Guidance: Campaign tactics are often selected with aim of confronting or challenging decisionmakers or those with power. If you are planning a protest as part of a campaign that is not affiliated with the SU, you are welcome to reach out and discuss your plans with us.  

  • Disciplinary Action: UAL has the power to start disciplinary proceedings against students if they do not follow the Code of Practice. However, the legal obligation on UAL to facilitate freedom of expression including peaceful protest is strong.  
    • Guidance: Any attempt to start disciplinary proceedings against a student for organising a peaceful protest should be brought to the attention of the Arts SU including the Arts SU Advice Service to ensure UAL is following its own policy.  

Planning a Protest on Campus 

Before the Protest 

  • Clarify the aim of the protest. Are you trying to convince someone with power to meet with you? Raise awareness? Build student participation? A clear aim means participants and passersby understand why you’re there.  

  • Get creative with your tactics. Placards and signs are useful, but what other props or public displays could you try? How will you maintain people’s attention and energy during the protest? 

  • Arrange to arrive with other people. Ensure new or less experienced students are welcomed and/or can travel with others. 

The Very Basics of Planning a Protest 

  • Develop a strategy and plan with other protest organisers. The best way to keep each other safe is by following an agreed plan and continuously communicating with each other. For example, it is crucial that organisers are on same page about the level of risk you are all willing to take and how you will all respond to changes or intervention by security/police. 

  • Assign people specific roles with clear responsibilities. Assign a few experienced people to act as Security Leads. Their role will be to speak with college security and or police. It is also good practice to assign people as Welfare Leads. Their role involves making sure people present at the protest have their basic needs met (safety, toilets, food, water) alongside their emotional needs. They can support people to leave a protest safely if they are overwhelmed or fall ill.  

Creating a Protest Safety Plan 

  • In addition to the plan you create with other protest organisers, it is important to create a short document with key rights and your plan for how to keep each other safe. This document should can be shared with students attending or at a briefing at the beginning of the protest.  

  • Template for you to use and copy: Template.docx (make a copy) 

  • Scenario planning is when you plan for several different scenarios and agree on how you will respond to each scenario together. This is especially important if you are ensuring about whether the police might turn up or when you’re trying out a new tactic/location. 

  • Arts SU can provide some advice (not legal advice) on organising protests on campus and offer guidance informed by resources linked below. Send an email  democracy@su.arts.ac.uk  if you need support creating a plan for a protest.  

During the Protest 

  • Keep each other safe. 

  • Arrange regular check-in processes.  

  • Check-in with people who are specific holding roles such as Security Leads and Welfare Leads to make sure they are ok and if theyneed a break. 

  • Ensure people do not have multiple roles. 

  • Be mindful of the needs and vulnerabilities of marginalised protesters. 

  • Be attentive and alert during protests. Situations or changes can develop very quickly, and it is important to be able to be responsive. 

  • But also, try make it fun! Ensure someone is responsible for keeping energy up, delivering speeches and leading chants – people stay involved in campaigns and protest actions when they feel connected and energised. 

After the Protest 

  • Organise a short debrief (ideally, directly after) to assess your impact and understand how the protest felt for participants and organisers.  

  • Arrange to leave with people and plan your journey to ensure security/police do not target individuals.  

International Students 

  • Arts SU recognises the impact of the UK’s hostile environment policies as well as the current political climate on international students’ ability to engage in protest and campaigning. It is incredibly important that international students understand that they have a legal right to protest.  

Key Information: 

  • You are not legally required to share your nationality or immigration status with the police, even if arrested at a protest.  

  • However, once arrested, the police may decide to carry out immigration checks if they suspect you are not a British citizen.  

  • Informed Dissent have also produced this helpful guidance on the impact of arrest on immigration status. 

  • If you are facing difficulties with your student visa and immigration status following protest activity, we recommend that you seek urgent legal advice from a solicitor specialising in immigration law. 

 

What law enforcement powers do university staff have? 

  • University security staff are not police – generally, they do not have the same level of law enforcement powers. For example, they do not have powers to forcibly search or question you.   

Police Powers in University 

  • University staff may report campus incidents to the police and request that they attend to them. If the police do attend your campus, they must exercise their powers lawfully. To find out more about police powers and your rights, you can visit Liberty’s guidance on Do I have to answer police questions? and Police powers of arrest  

  • Campus staff cannot let the police into your accommodation or give them the keys to your flat to giveallow them entry into your property. 

What are the new protest offences under the Crime and Policing Act 2026? 

According to Liberty UK, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 builds on the previous Government’s recent anti-protest legislation, including the Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 and the Public Order Act 2023, making it increasingly difficult for people to understand how to safely protest.  

  • Under Sections 157 to 159 of the Crime and Policing Act 2026, the police now have powers to create ‘mask-free zones’ at protests, making it a criminal offence to wear or use an item to conceal your identity in these zones. 

  • Section 160 makes it a criminal offence to possess a pyrotechnic article, such as a flare, firework or a smoke bomb, while taking part in a protest in a public place.   

  • Section 161 makes it a criminal offence to climb on a specified memorial, which is listed under Schedule 17. Schedule 17 includes certain war memorials and more specific statues, including of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square. 

  • Under Section 165, senior police officers now have to consider the “cumulative disruption” caused by previous protests in the area as a reason to restrict protests, regardless of whether they were organised or attended by the same people or focused on the same issues. 

Key Resources and Organisations 

Liberty 

Liberty is an independent membership organisation. Liberty brings together campaigners, lawyers and policy experts to We challenge unjust laws, policies and practices by taking landmark legal cases; We influence policy to secure lasting change for the most marginalised; and We uncover injustice and inspire people to stand up to power 

  • Liberty’s Practical Protest Guide for Students: Liberty Guide Campus Edition: A resource designed to help students understand their rights, stay safe, and continue to stand up for what they believe in. 

Green and Black Cross 

Green & Black Cross (GBC) is an independent grassroots project. We are set up in the spirit of mutual aid and solidarity to support autonomous social struggles within the UK. GBC was founded in November 2010 to provide legal support for protests against the government’s wave of massive spending cuts 

Bust cards are an essential item to take with you on a protest. 

They provide you with our key advice, information on stop and search and arrest, and the names and numbers of solicitors who can help you. 

Download Printable Bust cards (4 per page) here. 

European Legal Support Center 

“The European Legal Support Center (ELSC) is the first and only independent organisation defending and empowering the Palestine solidarity movement across Europe through legal means. We provide free legal advice and assistance to associations, human rights NGOs, groups and individuals advocating for Palestine in mainland Europe and Britain.”