CAMPAIGNERS have slammed the government’s “repressive” attempts to clamp down on the right to protest and redefine extremism, warning they are “poorly drafted and open to legal challenge.”

Communities Secretary Michael Gove is expected to announce a looser definition of extremism within days.

Organisations and individuals that breach the new definition will be banned from receiving public funds, engaging with government agencies and appearing at university campuses.

Several Muslim groups are reportedly set to be on the list, including the Muslim Council of Britain and the Muslim Engagement and Development NGO.

Mr Gove claims he aims to ban groups which “undermine the UK’s system of liberal democracy.”

His plan comes in the wake of government adviser John Woodcock’s call last week for political leaders to adopt a “zero-tolerance approach” towards pro-Palestine and climate protesters.

He told party leaders to instruct MPs and councillors “not to engage” with anyone from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, and recommended last month that “threatening” protests outside Parliament, MPs’ offices and council buildings be banned and dispersed by police.

Stop the War’s John Rees told the Morning Star that legislation aimed at curbing protest rights and redefining extremism was “repressive, poorly drafted, and open to legal challenge.

“They’re trying to do this all in the name of British values and that extremists are people who don’t accept British values, but out there in the society at large, free speech and freedom of assembly are regarded as core values in this society,” he said.

Mr Gove claimed that “good-hearted people”  who have taken part in Palestine marches should be aware they could be “lending credence” to extremists.

Mr Rees said the remarks were a “transparent attempt to drive a wedge between the organisers of demonstrations and the people who come on the demonstrations.”

He said: “The [protesters] are motivated by far greater concerns than this. They’re motivated by 30,000 people being mowed down in Gaza.

“The idea that the government’s calling them names, I don’t think really registers as a disincentive to protest.”

Over 400,000 marched through London from Hyde Park Corner to the US embassy on Saturday calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

An estimated 300,000 people are facing famine in Gaza as Israel prevents aid distribution, while the death toll has climbed to over 31,000.

Last week Robin Simcox, the government’s commissioner for countering extremism, suggested that the protests had turned London into a “no-go zone for Jews every weekend.”

Gillian Mosley, a Jewish director marching as part of the Jewish Bloc for Palestine, told Sky News that the claims were “absurd.”

“Obviously I’m surrounded by Jews,” she said. “I also live in central London and have lots of Jewish neighbours, and none of us are scared.”

In a video from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign filmed during the march, Emili, a member of the Jewish campaign group Na’amod, said that she was “horrified” that the government is using “the very real rise in anti-semitism, often fuelled by the far-right, to curb our rights to protest and to squash the Palestinian solidarity movement.”

Attending the march, singer Charlotte Church said there had been “a strong, a peaceful, a loving message” at every protest she had attended. 

“We’re all here because we cannot bear what we’re witnessing,” she said.

“We cannot bear to see civilians, children, women slaughtered.”

With the march taking place a day after International Women’s Day, Labour MP Apsana Begum said: “As we pay tribute this weekend to our recent history of women’s struggles, as we look to a future of women’s liberation, we must be clear that this means liberation for all women.”

Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “We’re here because we’re appalled at the bombing that’s still going on in Gaza.

“We’re also demonstrating our right to demonstrate, there’s so much talk about [the idea that] people shouldn’t be on demonstrations, well today there’s a lot of us here, all faiths, all ethnic groups, men and women, led by women. No problem, no trouble, it’s a march of love.”