HOLYROOD bosses have published the steps protesters must take to avoid being removed and potentially prosecuted under “Draconian” new security rules covering the site.

The parliament yesterday updated its advice to protest organisers and issued a new “protest policy” saying what people weren’t allowed to do at the building and its grounds.

Besides seeking permission to hold a demonstration in advance, the notes say protesters must not climb on any part of the building, camp outside it, or attach “banners, posters, flyers, leaflets or other articles” to the parliament.

People are also forbidden to project images or shine laser lights without permission.

If the rules are broken and parliamentary business or safety is threatened, the policy says people may ultimately be asked to leave.

Despite the prohibition on posters, the Parliament itself plans to erect 10 signs around the Holyrood campus in the coming days declaring it is now a so-called “designated site under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005”, also known as SOCPA.

They signs say the parliament welcomes visitors, including those trying to influence debate “through protest and demonstration”.

They then add: “It is a criminal offence to enter or be on this site without lawful authority.”

Holyrood’s cross-party management group, the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body (SPCB), decided in June to give the building and its grounds the same security status as Westminster, royal palaces and military sites such as Faslane submarine base.

The SPCB asked the Home Office to make Holyrood a “designated site” on national security grounds, and a SOCPA order was laid in the Commons in September, before any public announcement was made.

From October 1 it became an offence to be on the parliamentary estate “without lawful authority”, potentially punishable by a year in jail or a £5000 fine on conviction.

The change provoked a backlash, with the Scottish Greens, Alba party and SNP MP Joanna Cherry QC calling it Draconian.

A paper presented to the SPCB on September 29, which was also released yesterday, said the measures were to guard against “very disruptive or potentially dangerous escalations and activities which exceed the scope of lawful protest and reasonable access”.

Minutes of the meeting show Green MSP Maggie Chapman forced a vote on a secret security protocol between SPCB and Police Scotland on how to manage “very serious disruption, or potentially dangerous escalations and activities” under SOCPA.

She was the only MSP on the SPCB to oppose the protocol.

The parliament said it remained “open, accessible and participative” and recognised the importance of peaceful protest in a democracy.

“SOCPA designation will not affect our ongoing practice of facilitating peaceful protest.”