The government wants to give police in England and Wales more powers to intervene in protests in a bid to clamp down on “disruptive and dangerous” demonstrations.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said protests conducted by a small minority “disrupting the lives of the ordinary public” is “not acceptable”, vowing that the government “going to bring it to an end”.

But protest groups have said it is an “attack on rights” and an attempt to shut down routes for “ordinary people to make their voices heard”.

So, what will the new proposals mean for protest groups and what will police be able to do?

Here’s what we know so far.

What is the Public Order Bill and how will it be amended?

The Public Order Bill aims to crack down on disruptive protests by groups such as Just Stop Oil, Insulate Britain and Extinction Rebellion, which have used tactics including blocking roads and slow marching in the past.

The Bill covers England and Wales and is in the final stages of debate in parliament. It is currently undergoing scrutiny in the House of Lords.

The government now wants to amend the Public Order Bill before it becomes law in order to add new proposals to it.

The amendment will broaden the legal definition of “serious disruption” in regards to protests and provide legal clarity on when the new powers could be used.

What are the new protest proposals?

The new measures have been proposed after police chiefs told the Prime Minister that there is some uncertainty over what reaches the threshold of “serious disruption”.

“The police asked us for more clarity to crack down on these guerrilla tactics, and we have listened,” he added.

Those tactics include protectors glueing themselves to roads and attaching themselves to public transport infrastructure.

The changes announced by the government will mean police can step in and stop such protest before disruption has begun.

Police will also not need to treat a series of protests by the same group as standalone incidents but will be able to consider their total impact.

But civil rights and protest groups have criticised both the Bill and the planned amendment to it.

Martha Spurrier, director of human rights advocacy group Liberty, said protest is a “fundamental right” which “continues to be attacked by a government determined to silence people and hide from accountability”.

She added that allowing police to shut down protests before any disruption has taken place “sets a dangerous precedent” and that protest “remains a crucial way for people to hold the government to account”.

A spokesperson for Just Stop Oil told FactCheck their supporters “will not be silenced”, while an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson told us the Public Order Bill “will not stop those of us taking action and building a mass movement to bring an end to the fossil fuel era”.