PEERS have once again defied government plans to hand police the power to clamp down on “noisy protests.”

Rights groups praised Tuesday’s intervention by Lords to protect the right to protest after they voted, for a second time, to remove measures intended to curb demonstrations from the Police Crime Sentencing and Courts Bill.

The mammoth piece of legislation, currently going through Parliament, has been widely opposed as draconian due to plans to give police the power to shut down protests deemed “too noisy,” among other restrictions.