Leducate Explains: Protesting
Protesting Today
What do the terms mean?
Highway: A way of getting around available to the public, like a road or footpath.
Public Disorder: A term used to refer to lots of different laws relating to violence or threat to violence in a public place.
Kettling: This is a method of crowd control, where the police limit the crowd to certain areas.
Charge: Where the police formally assert that someone has committed a crime.
In recent weeks, the world has watched on as protests have been reported across the media in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the USA. While protests in support of Black Lives Matter have taken place before in the UK, the current wave of demonstrations takes place in the unique context of the Covid-19 crisis. Protesting is a legal right that every individual has, however, there are restrictions. In this article Leducate explains what your rights are when protesting, what actions the police can take against protesters and how the Coronavirus lockdown measures have affected the right to protest.
Protestors’ Rights
The right to protest peacefully is protected in the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), under the heading of “freedom of expression[1]”. Everyone has the right to express themselves, either individually or in a group, if they feel unhappy about a particular situation or specific thing that the government is (or is not!) doing. The right to the “freedom of expression” means that everyone has the right to protest peacefully.
However, there are some limits. Protests are not allowed to make it unsafe for the general public who might either live near or be passing by the area where the protest is happening. Any protest cannot be a risk to national security or get in the way of the police stopping any crimes taking place. Protests cannot be used as an ‘excuse’ for “disorder” - for example looting or damaging other people’s property.
The following are the most frequently occurring crimes that protestors get charged with:
Trespassing - This is where a protestor might enter onto someone else’s private land (for example a front driveway or into the office building of a company). The person who owns the land is allowed to ask the police to remove the protestors because they do not have permission to be there.
Obstructing the Highway - If protestors block the road so that traffic cannot get past, this is against the law. The police can remove anyone who is blocking road traffic either by physically moving them or arresting them.
Breach of the Peace - If someone actually hurts another person (or threatens to hurt them) then they have breached the peace. It is also a crime to break (or damage in any way) any property that belongs to someone else e.g. smashing a shop window.
What are the police allowed to do during a protest?
The police are allowed to restrict some protests if they think there is a risk that people’s property might get damaged or there might be some public disorder. If the police have banned a protest from happening in a certain area then they can arrest anyone who tries to go ahead with the protest anyway.
The ECHR, mentioned earlier, gives people the right to challenge the police’s decision to restrict a protest. The police will have to give very good reasons for why they haven’t allowed the protest to go ahead and will have to provide some evidence to back up their decision.
The police will often use the following tactics to keep protests under control:
Kettling - This is a method of crowd control, where the police limit the crowd to certain areas.
Stop and Search - The police have the power to stop any person that they “reasonably suspect” of either having broken the law or being about to do something that is against the law. The police are allowed to search a person’s bags and pockets and ask them to take off their outer layer (e.g. a jacket or jumper) and their shoes to check they don’t have anything illegal with them.
Stop and Account - The police have the power to stop a person and ask for their name and check what they are doing.
Are people still allowed to protest during lockdown?
The current Covid-19 rules[2], only allow a maximum of 6 people to be together in a public place. (Different regulations apply in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.)
The government has not allowed an exception for protests. This means that it is possible that anyone who goes to a protest while the rules are still in force could be arrested. The police can issue on-the-spot fines and can arrest and charge people who they catch gathering together in groups larger than 6 people to protest.
Written by Hannah Carpenter
[1] - (Article 10(2) and freedom of assembly (Article 11 (2))
[2] - Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions), (England) Regulations 2020