Holding public meetings
z A public meeting is one that is open to the public to attend, with or without payment, and is held in a public place (a place to which the public have access on payment or otherwise). Many private premises - e.g. town halls, church halls, pubs - become 'public places' when public meetings are held there.
z A meeting could be any number of people, it doesn’t even need to have been advertised.
z If you are the organiser of a public meeting on private premises, you must ensure that you comply with the terms and conditions for the use of the premises, including all fire and safety regulations, and that the meeting is conducted in an orderly manner.
z You should provide stewards who should be easily identifiable, but they should
not wear a uniform to promote a political objective.
z They are there to assist in the admission and seating of members of the public and in the control of disorder or to remove members of the public who go too far in their heckling.
z They must NOT however try to take over the functions
of the police.
z Any meeting of two or more people that is wholly or
partly in the open air is a ‘public assembly’ and subject
to conditions imposed by the police under the Public
Order Act (POA). (See below). NB: If such a meeting is
attended by 20 or more people and held on land without
the owner's permission it may be ‘a trespassory
assembly’ and could be banned.
If you are attending a public meeting
z Please note - and this applies to police too, It is an offence under the Public Meeting Act 1908 to try to break up a lawful public meeting by acting in a disorderly manner or to incite others to do so. This carries quite heavy penalties up to a custodial sentence. The Public Order Act (POA) refers to all static demonstrations in a public space as assemblies.
z Two people can constitute an ‘assembly’.
z A public place is any highway (including the pavement) and any other place to which the public or a section of the public can have access.
z The law provides a specific right to use a public highway. This includes the right to pass and re-pass along the highway (including the pavement), and the right to make ordinary and ‘reasonable use’ of the highway.
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z To hold peaceful assemblies that do not prevent other people from also using the highway is likely to be seen as a ‘reasonable use’ of the highway.
z Unlike marches (see later) there is normally NO requirement to give prior notice of an assembly but, under the Public Order Act, the police do have specific
powers to control them.
z The senior police officer at the scene has
the power to impose conditions - but ONLY
if he or she reasonably believes that: the
conditions are necessary to ‘prevent serious
public disorder, serious damage to property
or serious disruption to the life of the
community, or the purpose of the organisers
is to intimidate others’.
z The ONLY conditions that may be
imposed on a public assembly are on its location, the maximum number of
people participating and the maximum duration, (unless you declare it as a public meeting and not a protest)
z There is no power to ban a public assembly altogether, so if the conditions are
so strict that they in effect prohibit the assembly from taking place in any
meaningful way (such as if the conditions restrict the protest to 5 people, in a side
street away from the public and for a maximum of 5 minutes), it may be that they
amount to a ban, which is unlawful and also a breach of the protesters’ rights to
assembly under Article 11 of the Convention of Human Rights.
The law on use of the highway
z While you have a specific right to make reasonable use of the highway;
unreasonable obstruction of the highway is a criminal offence and the police have
often seen this, in practice, as a licensing power over public gatherings, e.g. it is
used by the police to remove sit-down demonstrators, to keep marchers from
leaving the agreed police route, to control pickets.
z The offence is ‘obstructing the highway’, not other highway users. So it is NOT
necessary to prove that any other person was actually obstructed - the
'obstruction' can be made out if you simply occupy a section of highway.
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z In practice the offence turns on whether a particular obstruction was
reasonable rather than whether there was, in fact, an obstruction. The test of
reasonableness is always objective. Was there an actual obstruction? If there
was, how long did it last? Where was it? What was its purpose? In practice, it is
often very helpful to have photographs to show just how extensive - or limited - a
particular obstruction was.
z Often the police will give a warning to move before making an arrest, but there
is no legal requirement to do so. However, if you were not given a warning that
you were causing an obstruction, it will be easier to show that you were not
making unreasonable use of the highway.
z As stated above, there is a right to use the highway for reasonable purposes,
so the test of reasonableness can very often be argued successfully in
demonstration cases, particularly where the police have taken no action in the
past, or where the actual obstruction was trivial. Also there is a right to peaceful
assembly in Article 11 of the Convention of Human Rights.
z The offence can be tried in the Magistrates' Court only and there is no power
to send a person convicted of highway obstruction to prison.
Marches (processions)
The Public Order Act (POA) refers to marches as 'processions'
z A 'procession' is simply defined as people moving together along a route.
There isn’t a minimum number, so even a handful of people going to a Town Hall
to hand in a petition will constitute a procession.
z There is no legal definition of an organiser. For a big procession an official
organiser should be selected well in advance. For an informal event the organiser
could be anyone who takes the lead. Some spontaneous events will have no
organiser.
Do we need to get permission?
z Organisers of MOST processions MUST give advance notice to the police.
z Specifically, notice should be given of any procession if it is intended to:
‘demonstrate support for or opposition to the views or actions of any group,
publicise a cause or campaign or mark or commemorate an event’
z Notice need not be given if it is not
reasonably practicable to do so in advance.
This is intended to allow for a completely
spontaneous procession, for example, when
a meeting turns itself into a march. (However,
a last-minute telephone call to the police is
advisable to show you are prepared to follow
the spirit of the law. A record should be kept
of the call.)
z Notice is also not required if it is a funeral procession or a procession
commonly or customarily held.(but this doesn’t concern us here).
z Notice must be in writing and include details of the date, start time, proposed
route and name and address of the organiser.
z The written notice must be delivered to a police station in the area where the
procession is planned to start, either by hand or by recorded delivery six clear
days in advance, i.e. a full week in advance.
z If a procession is planned at short notice (less than one week), the written
notice should be delivered by hand as soon as reasonably practicable.
Can we get into trouble?
The organiser commits an offence if notice was not given as required or any of
the details, including the route, differ from that given in the notice. But don’t
worry, prosecutions are VERY rare. And it is a defence if you can show you were
not aware that notice had not been given or not given in time; or the different
date, starting time or route was due to circumstances beyond your control or was
changed with the agreement of the police or by direction of the police.
Police Conditions on Marches
z The police have extensive powers to impose conditions on marches including
about the route, number of marchers, types of banners or duration, or to restrict
entry to a public place. (In limited circumstances they can have them banned –
though this is highly unlikely to apply to anything organised by Napo). These
conditions must be in writing
After the procession has begun the most senior officer on the spot can impose
similar conditions, which do not have to be in writing. The Public Order Act says
that conditions can be imposed only if the senior officer ‘reasonably believes that
the procession may result in: serious public disorder; serious damage to property;
serious disruption to the life of the community; or if he or she reasonably believes
that the purpose of the organisers is to intimidate others’.
z The conditions must be ones that the officer believes are necessary to prevent
disorder, damage, disruption or intimidation.
z If you are ever in the situation when organising a ‘procession’ where you are
faced with conditions in advance that you think unreasonable or in the unlikely
event it is banned you should get in touch with Napo Head Office.
z Warning - failure to comply with a valid condition, properly imposed, is a
criminal offence with different penalties for organisers and other participants.
Campaigning Committee 29-05-13
Cam 05-13
Demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament
The Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA) introduced a
new set of criteria for demonstrations in the vicinity of Parliament. The
designated area is a large area around parliament that includes all of
Whitehall, some parts of the Southbank, as well as Westminster and
Parliament Square itself.
What is a ‘Demonstration’ is not defined in this context but it is possible for
one person to carry out a ‘demonstration’ on his or her own.
If you find yourself in the position of organising anything that could fall under
this, please seek advice from Napo Head Office.
