Try to disable the branch protection in the settings/repository page. Check the sections Default Branch and Protected Branches

After that:

Checkout the branch locally.
<code>git checkout branch</code>
Rename it locally
<code>git checkout -b branch_old</code>
delete remote branch
<code>git push --delete origin branch</code>
push the locally renamed branch to remote.
<code>git push --set-upstream origin branch_old</code>



===== How do I delete a local branch in Git? =====

Git makes managing branches really easy - and deleting local branches is no exception:

<code>git branch -d <local-branch></code>

In some cases, Git might refuse to delete your local branch: when it contains commits that haven't been merged into any other local branches or pushed to a remote repository. This is a very sensible rule that protects you from inadvertently losing commit data.

If you want to delete such a branch nonetheless (e.g. because you've programmed yourself into a dead end and produced commits that aren't worth keeping) you can do so with the "-D" flag:

<code>git branch -D <local-branch></code>