The Interior Ministry has decided to continue its appeal against a Supreme Court ruling over a law that criminalized hundreds of people for peaceful protests, a human rights group claims.

Liberty accused the government on Wednesday of showing a “disregard for the rule of law” with its decision.

The group won a legal battle against the Interior Ministry in May over protest regulations passed last year by decree under then-Interior Minister Suella Braverman.

The measures, which were found to be unlawful by two judges, lowered the threshold for what is considered a “serious disruption” to community life from “significant” and “persistent” to “more than minor”.

The Home Office, now led by new Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, suspended its plans to appeal the ruling in July. At the time, Liberty said it was confident it could “find a resolution to the case”.

But on Wednesday evening, the group said the government had decided to pursue its appeal after talks to resolve the dispute failed.

Akiko Hart, director of Liberty, said: “We are very disappointed that the Home Secretary has taken the decision to pursue this case despite a positive discussion on the impact of the unlawful scheme.

“This legislation is undemocratic, unconstitutional and unacceptable.”

She added: “The Home Office’s decision to proceed with the case shows a disregard for the rule of law and is completely at odds with previous statements made by the Government last month that it would not abuse the use of secondary legislation and was committed to high standards of governance.”

“After hundreds of people have already been wrongfully arrested and convicted as a result of this unlawful legislation, it is not right to continue to enforce this law that should never have been enacted.”

“The only right thing to do would be to overturn this law once and for all.”

In their judgment in May, Lord Justice Green and Mr Justice Kerr found that the Home Office had acted unlawfully in introducing the regulations. They concluded that “serious” did not include “more than minor” and that the Department had failed to follow a fair consultation process.

The lifting of the measures has been stayed pending an appeal, and a hearing scheduled for last month was adjourned to allow talks between Liberty and the Home Office to take place.

Liberty said the appointment was now planned for later this year, with the date yet to be confirmed.

The Ministry of the Interior was asked for a statement.