Belfast unionist questions the motives behind plans which would restrict the right to protest and preach in Northern Ireland's capital city

If the new rules go ahead, people will have to buy permits before they can use any kind of amplification device (like a microphone or a megaphone), set up any kind of stall or stand, or entertain passers-by.

This will apply to activists of any political or religious stripe, but the council says it is in specific response to “issues” with “religious preaching”, as well as “the display of graphic imagery” – the latter being a veiled reference to anti-abortion activists, who sometimes display photographs of what the abortion process looks like.

The new rules will also place tight limits on how long people can carry out these activities – limiting buskers to one hour in any given spot, and protestors or preachers to two, before they have to pack up and relocate somewhere else in the city centre.

The regulations do not cover strike pickets, marches which have been okayed by the Parades Commission, and charity fundraising which has been okayed by the police – all of which will be allowed as usual.

The cost of the permits has not yet been decided, but anyone breaking the new rules would be fined up to £500.

It is also not clear yet who will issue them: council officials, or elected councillors.

The proposals are out to public consultation at present until March 4, 2024 (you can respond via the council website).

Jim Rodgers, who worships a Mountpottinger Methodist and is honourary president of the Belfast Battalion of the BB, said in three decades on the council the issue of street preaching had “rarely raised its head”, adding that councillors should have “better things to do”.

“Some clergy and laypeople have spoken to me and they feel that there’s another agenda at work by some of the councillors who have been calling for action,” he said.

"I feel that some councillors, they just have no time for anything, anybody, who’s connected to the church. That concerns me.

“I’m so busy as a public representative; some of the issues a very small number of public representatives raise I wouldn’t even have time to raise.

"There’s more important things in life than trying to single out people who are preaching the Gospel.”

Here specifically is how the new planned rules will affect protestors and preachers:

Permits will be required for the use of any "amplification devices" within an area of the city centre called “the Primary Retail Core” – "whether as part of a performance or otherwise".

Permits will also be required for setting up any "stand, stall, or vehicle with promotional literature or information (whether connected to a business, charity, political or any other non-commercial purpose)".

The permits will let people conduct these activities for a maximum of two hours.

After that, they "must re-locate to a different place" at least 100 metres from their original location.

The rules will then reset at the end of every day.

The proposals around buskers are stricter still.

Without a permit, they will be banned not just from “the Primary Retail Core”, but from anywhere in "the city centre" – a vastly bigger area that takes in the SSE Arena in the east all the way over to the Westlink motorway in the west, and from the edge of the City Hospital in the south to the Custom House in the north.

This covers many places which are residential neighbourhoods: Donegall Pass, Sandy Row, The Markets, Barrack Street, Carrick Hill, Sailortown.

Here is the specific wording of the planned rules for buskers: "A person may not conduct or take part in any amplified performance (whether vocal or instrumental), dance, concert or other such performance in a public place in the city centre... without a valid permit".

Any buskers who do get permits will be allowed to perform for only one hour.

After that, they must pack up their kit and move 100 metres in any direction, unpack, and start again.

Added to all of the above, the council reserves the right to impose further unspecified "conditions" upon permit-holders, which it can alter at any time.