diff --git a/.gitlab-ci.yml b/.gitlab-ci.yml
index 57f29e10ab761f4c926bc96909f78d649dbe5f55..cce4be0f92d4abd6344f61541335d9e8f7b97da9 100644
--- a/.gitlab-ci.yml
+++ b/.gitlab-ci.yml
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 workflow:
   rules:
     - if: '$CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "merge_request_event"'
-    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH && $CI_OPEN_MERGE_REQUESTS && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push"'
+    - if: '$CI_COMMIT_BRANCH && $CI_OPEN_MERGE_REQUESTS && $CI_PIPELINE_SOURCE == "push" && $CI_COMMIT_REF_PROTECTED != "true"'
       when: never
     - when: always
 
diff --git a/theodolite-benchmarks/docker-test/README.md b/theodolite-benchmarks/docker-test/README.md
index 3525b2eec1527c3b954b77a2addc28c5bd16ec7d..5d7ca3f4ac470202579f154fe8f066a246c84d23 100644
--- a/theodolite-benchmarks/docker-test/README.md
+++ b/theodolite-benchmarks/docker-test/README.md
@@ -46,3 +46,9 @@ The `smoketest-runner.sh` script can be used to run a simple test for a specific
 ```
 
 where `<docker-compose-dir>` is the directory of a Docker-Compose file, for example, `uc2-beam-samza`. The script exists with a zero exit code in case of success and a non-zero exit code otherwise.
+
+You can also run the set of all smoke test with:
+
+```sh
+./smoketest-runner-all.sh
+```