UK plan to curb protests faces opposition in Parliament

LONDON (AP) — Britain’s Conservative government has suffered a setback in Parliament in its attempt to give authorities stronger powers to curb peaceful but disruptive protests. Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords, rejected some of the most contentious provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill late Monday. The defeated measures would give police officers the right to stop and search people at demonstrations without suspicion, allow courts to bar named individuals from attending protests and empower police to curb protests that are judge to be too noisy. The government says the measures are needed to stop “highly disruptive” protests. But civil liberties groups say they violate long-held freedoms of assembly and speech.