# Crime and Policing Act 2026, Section 164: Places of worship: restriction on protests

Extent: E+W+S

(1) The Public Order Act 1986 is amended as follows.
(2) In section 12(1) (imposing conditions on public processions)—
(a) at the end of paragraph (ab) omit “or”;
(b) at the end of paragraph (b) insert
“or
(c) in the case of a procession in England and Wales, the procession is in the vicinity of a place of worship and may intimidate persons of reasonable firmness with the result that those persons are deterred from—
(i) accessing that place of worship for the purpose of carrying out religious activities, or
(ii) carrying out religious activities at that place of worship,”.
(3) In section 14(1) (imposing conditions on public assemblies)—
(a) at the end of paragraph (ab) omit “or”;
(b) at the end of paragraph (b) insert
“or
(c) in the case of an assembly in England and Wales, the assembly is in the vicinity of a place of worship and may intimidate persons of reasonable firmness with the result that those persons are deterred from—
(i) accessing that place of worship for the purpose of carrying out religious activities, or
(ii) carrying out religious activities at that place of worship.”
(4) In section 14ZA(1) (imposing conditions on one-person protests)—
(a) at the end of paragraph (a) omit “or”;
(b) at the end of paragraph (b) insert
“or
(c) the protest is in the vicinity of a place of worship and may intimidate persons of reasonable firmness with the result that those persons are deterred from—
(i) accessing that place of worship for the purpose of carrying out religious activities, or
(ii) carrying out religious activities at that place of worship.”

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2026/20/section/164 (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/crime-and-policing-act-2026/section-164
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.