The penning in of protesters and holding of them for several hours was ilegal as under section 60 this may only be done if it is believed by the officer in charge that serious disorder will break or if any acts of violence have been committed. On Mayday a crowd of people gathered peacefully to picket Lockheed Martin. Not one incident of violence occurred before or after the protesters were penned in.
Another breakaway group was also penned in briefly in The Strand outside the Shell UK HQ despite being entirely peaceful and not having broken any laws.
The main penned in group were also held for several hours in the Strand near Trafalgar Square without being allowed to leave despite anouncements by the police on a loud hailer that they must disperse by 7:05pm.
The action of the police was entirely politically motivated to deny the right of peaceful protesters to excercise their legitimate right to protest and hold peaceful pickets. In no way could the police action be upheld in law.
The main penned in group were also held for several hours in the Strand near Trafalgar Square without being allowed to leave despite anouncements by the police on a loud hailer that they must disperse by 7:05pm.
The action of the police was entirely politically motivated to deny the right of peaceful protesters to excercise their legitimate right to protest and hold peaceful pickets. In no way could the police action be upheld in law.
Comments
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Section 60 never allows penning in of crowds.
10.05.2003 17:24
It says nothing about penning in crowds.
Cops have sometimes argued that they have to pen in crowds in order to search under s60, but this is very dodgy legaly.
Cops also claim that they are allowed under common law (conventions dating from before much legislation about what's legal, not formally codified) to detain individuals or groups to prevent a breach of the peace. The legal question would be whether there was a genuine threat of a breach (i.e. violence towards a person or the property of soemone present), and whether preventing it was the genuine motivation of the cops.
I didn't here of s60 being declared on mayday at all. Anyone know if it was?
eric
section 14
10.05.2003 19:05
serious disruption/violence could occur, they can impose
conditions on public assemblies.
ie they imposed the conditions that the assembly had to end
by 7:05, and could not change its location (ie move off as
a group).
not sure if this legalises the penning in, maybe as part
of imposing the condition on the location of the assembly,
certainly they shouldn't be stopping people leaving in small
groups.
Under section14 an assembly must be at least 40 ppl, so
surely we would have the legal right to leave at will in
groups of 39?
Not that this would work in reality of course, try
suggesting it to the Met!
confused
blah
10.05.2003 19:47
surely we would have the legal right to leave at will in
groups of 39?"
no, an assembly is at least 20 people.
pez
Police State
10.05.2003 20:03
Martial
breach of the peace
10.05.2003 22:22
Learn from your mistakes
tuff
Pointless unless you press it!
12.05.2003 12:08
As long as people go along with police lies, tricks and abuse, they will continue. GET ARRESTED - BEAT THE BILL
righT
penning in
12.05.2003 14:42
over recent months, across the UK, they've started using Section 14 or Section 12 (don't remember) of the Public Order Act to impose conditions on assemblies.
for tactics to stop getting penned in in the first place, have a look at the webpage below - download the guide to public order situations - if you have comments from the last or next demo/action you're on, let them know and they'll probably get included in the next version...
bob
Homepage:
http://www.earthfirst.org.uk