Petition · Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Ensure Peaceful Protesting Outside Animal-Testing Facilities Is Not Criminalised

Open for signatures 107 signatures

What the petition asks

We call on the Government to repeal the recent amendment to the Public Order Act 2023 which, in our view, could effectively ban peaceful protests at animal-testing facilities.
We believe such protests shouldn’t be a crime when they pose no threat or intimidation, and we consider animal testing is an area of open ethical debate & the ability to protest against it should be protected. Regardless of your stance on animal testing, it should be the right of every citizen to stand up and peacefully express their ethical concerns in an organised fashion, including for animal rights at an animal-testing facility. We believe suppressing peaceful dissent does not protect science or public safety: it erodes our fundamental democratic freedom, and the list of "banned protests" will only grow longer. In our view a peaceful protester is not a criminal for trying to protect puppies.

Timeline

19 Feb 2026 Petition opened for signatures

Key facts

Signatures 107
Status Open for signatures
Department Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
Opened 19 Feb 2026

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 26 Jul 2026.