Marches and processions
The Public Order Act refers to marches as 'processions' and to all other static demonstrations as 'assemblies'. A 'procession' is simply defined as people moving together along a route; the law does not provide a minimum number to constitute a procession, so even a handful of people going to a Town Hall to hand in a petition will constitute a procession. The POA gives the police extensive controls over processions. Organisers of most processions must give advance notice to the police. The police may impose conditions on processions and, in limited circumstances, have them banned. Failure to comply with these provisions is a criminal offence.
Who is the Organiser?
There is no legal definition. For a big procession an official organiser will probably have been selected well in advance of the date. For an informal event the organiser could be anyone who takes the lead. Some spontaneous events will have no organiser.
Advance Notice
The rules are designed to ensure that the police are told, in advance, about the vast majority of political marches. Specifically, they say that notice should be given of any procession if it is intended to:
Notice is also not required if it is a funeral procession or a procession commonly or customarily held. This will include the Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London, the Notting Hill Carnival and other annual local parades, including those organised by religious groups. If a protest march occurs regularly (weekly, annually) at the same time along the same route, then no notice should be required.
Where notice is required it must be in writing and must include:
If a procession is planned at short notice (less than one week), then the organiser is required to deliver written notice by hand as soon as reasonably practicable.
Offences Connected with Notice
The organiser commits an offence if:
There is no guarantee that the police will allow your proposed procession to take place as you want it. The police have extensive powers to impose conditions on marches, and even to ban them. In advance, the Chief Constable (or the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in London) can impose conditions relating to the route, number of marchers, types of banners or duration, or restrict entry to a public place. 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 POA says that conditions can be imposed only if the senior officer reasonably believes that the procession may result in:
Where organisers have sufficient notice of proposed conditions, they can be challenged in the courts (see below: Challenging Police Decisions). In particular, with the incorporation of the Convention, the police are under a positive duty not to act incompatibly with the Convention and conditions may be challenged on the grounds that they are excessive or unreasonable, or do not respect Convention rights such as Article 10 and Article 11.
Failure to comply with a valid condition, properly imposed, is a criminal offence with different penalties for organisers and other participants.
Banning Marches
The POA gives police power to ban all or a 'class' of processions in a local area for up to three months, by way of a banning order. If a Chief Constable (or the Commissioner in London) is satisfied that the powers to impose conditions will not be sufficient to prevent serious public disorder if the procession takes place, then he must apply for a banning order.
Outside London, the Chief Constable applies to the district council for a banning order. The district council is not obliged to make the order, and it must have the Home Secretary's consent to any banning order it does make. In London, the Commissioner makes the order with the Home Secretary's consent.
A banning order can cover all or part of a district (or all or part of the Metropolitan Police area or the City of London) and can ban all processions or just those within a certain class (for example, processions marking the death of a political terrorist). A blanket ban on all processions is often imposed, even though it is designed to prevent one march only. The standard formula is to ban 'all public processions other than those of a traditional or ceremonial character'. Once again, banning orders can be challenged in advance by reference to the Convention, but failure to comply with a valid banning order, properly imposed, is a criminal offence.
Who is the Organiser?
There is no legal definition. For a big procession an official organiser will probably have been selected well in advance of the date. For an informal event the organiser could be anyone who takes the lead. Some spontaneous events will have no organiser.
Advance Notice
The rules are designed to ensure that the police are told, in advance, about the vast majority of political marches. Specifically, they say that 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.
- Mark or commemorate an event.
Notice is also not required if it is a funeral procession or a procession commonly or customarily held. This will include the Lord Mayor's Show in the City of London, the Notting Hill Carnival and other annual local parades, including those organised by religious groups. If a protest march occurs regularly (weekly, annually) at the same time along the same route, then no notice should be required.
Where notice is required it must be in writing and must include:
- The date of the procession.
- The time it will start.
- The proposed route.
- The name and the address of the organiser.
If a procession is planned at short notice (less than one week), then the organiser is required to deliver written notice by hand as soon as reasonably practicable.
Offences Connected with Notice
The organiser commits an offence if:
- Notice was not given as required.
- The date, starting time or route differs from that given on the notice.
- 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.
There is no guarantee that the police will allow your proposed procession to take place as you want it. The police have extensive powers to impose conditions on marches, and even to ban them. In advance, the Chief Constable (or the Metropolitan Police Commissioner in London) can impose conditions relating to the route, number of marchers, types of banners or duration, or restrict entry to a public place. 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 POA says that conditions can be imposed only if the senior officer reasonably believes that the procession may result in:
- Serious public disorder; or
- Serious damage to property; or
- Serious disruption to the life of the community.
Where organisers have sufficient notice of proposed conditions, they can be challenged in the courts (see below: Challenging Police Decisions). In particular, with the incorporation of the Convention, the police are under a positive duty not to act incompatibly with the Convention and conditions may be challenged on the grounds that they are excessive or unreasonable, or do not respect Convention rights such as Article 10 and Article 11.
Failure to comply with a valid condition, properly imposed, is a criminal offence with different penalties for organisers and other participants.
Banning Marches
The POA gives police power to ban all or a 'class' of processions in a local area for up to three months, by way of a banning order. If a Chief Constable (or the Commissioner in London) is satisfied that the powers to impose conditions will not be sufficient to prevent serious public disorder if the procession takes place, then he must apply for a banning order.
Outside London, the Chief Constable applies to the district council for a banning order. The district council is not obliged to make the order, and it must have the Home Secretary's consent to any banning order it does make. In London, the Commissioner makes the order with the Home Secretary's consent.
A banning order can cover all or part of a district (or all or part of the Metropolitan Police area or the City of London) and can ban all processions or just those within a certain class (for example, processions marking the death of a political terrorist). A blanket ban on all processions is often imposed, even though it is designed to prevent one march only. The standard formula is to ban 'all public processions other than those of a traditional or ceremonial character'. Once again, banning orders can be challenged in advance by reference to the Convention, but failure to comply with a valid banning order, properly imposed, is a criminal offence.
