Meetings and Picketing
Meetings
Public Meetings
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, including town halls and council buildings, church halls, football stadia, pubs, become 'public places' when public meetings are held there. A meeting could be any number of people and there is no duty to advertise it or to offer tickets widely. Local council meetings are public (except for confidential parts of the agenda).
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. Stewards should be easily identifiable, but they should not wear a uniform to promote a political objective or signify membership of a political organisation. They must not try to take over the functions of the police or use force to promote a political objective (these acts would be illegal). They can 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.
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. The maximum penalty is six months' imprisonment and/or a fine up to £1000. If a police officer is present and reasonably suspects you of trying to disrupt the meeting, then, at the chairperson's request, he or she can ask you for your name and address. It is an offence if you fail to give these details or give a false name or address (maximum penalty is a fine at level 1 – currently £200).
If there is serious disruption or aggression, and if the police believe that you are involved, then, relying on their common law powers to prevent a breach of the peace, the police could ask you to leave the meeting, threatening you with arrest if you refused, or they could arrest you for an offence under Section 4 or Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 (POA).
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 POA. 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 subject to a banning order. Organisers should be aware that plain clothes police officers might attend political meetings without authority for the purpose of collecting information.
Election Meetings
The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes special provision for public meetings held at the time of local or national elections. All candidates are entitled to use rooms in local schools and other publicly owned meeting halls, free of charge, for election meetings provided that the meetings are open to the public and are intended to further the candidates' prospects by discussion of election issues. Some local authorities have refused permission to the National Front to use their premises for election meetings on the grounds that the National Front did not intend their meetings to be genuinely open to the public or because damage was likely to be caused to the premises. In 1986, the Court of Appeal upheld the right of a British National Party candidate to be allowed to use a schoolroom for an election meeting and ruled that a candidate who was refused such access could sue the local authority to enforce his or her rights under the election law.
The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes it an offence, punishable with a fine up to level 5 (currently £5,000), to disrupt, or to incite others to disrupt, an election meeting. If a police officer reasonably suspects you of trying to disrupt the meeting, then, at the chairperson's request, he or she can ask you for your name and address and it is an offence if you fail to give these details or falsify them (maximum penalty is a fine at level 1 – currently £200). Police powers for public meetings also apply to election meetings.
Private Meetings
A meeting is private if members of the public are not free to attend, in payment or otherwise (for example, the meeting of a trade union branch or a political party). A private meeting remains private even though it is held in a public building such as a town hall. Organisers can refuse entry or require someone to leave. Private meetings are governed by the rules of the organisation involved, or by conditions specified by the organisers together with any requirements, for example, as to maximum numbers, which apply to the premises where the meeting takes place. Unless the organisers invite the police, they have no right to enter a private meeting and can be asked to leave unless they are present to prevent crime or an imminent breach of the peace.
Picketing
For more than a century, trade unions and organised groups of workers have used picketing as a powerful means of protecting their employment rights and improving the conditions in which they are expected to work. In recent years, picketing has been used by campaigning and protest groups as an effective way of bringing their views to public attention, for example, by picketing premises where politicians are due to attend, demonstrating outside head offices of organisations and 'blockading' ports and airports supporting live animal exports. The law gives special status to picketing when it is related to an industrial dispute, but no special exemption under the criminal law. However, most picketing is lawful unless it causes an obstruction of the highway or is designed to intimidate.
You are protected under the civil law if you picket in connection with an industrial dispute at or near your workplace for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information or peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working (Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992). Employers have increasingly used the civil courts to get injunctions in order to limit the effectiveness of picketing. Injunctions have been granted on the basis that it was not the workplace of some or all of the pickets, or that the picketing was not peaceful. Unions that continue to picket in breach of an injunction are in contempt of court and liable to pay very heavy fines. By injunction the court can limit the location and number of pickets and impose conditions on their conduct.
No legal case has been decided which specifies that a particular number of pickets at the location of an industrial dispute will always be lawful. But a government Code of Practice, which the courts can refer to, suggests that the number of pickets at any entrance to a workplace should not generally exceed six. In applications for injunctions, the civil courts have tended to set the upper limit of the number of pickets that must be allowed at six. Other cases have given the police very wide discretion to limit the number of pickets if they believe it to be necessary to prevent a breach of the peace or an obstruction of the highway.
Secondary picketing - picketing at a workplace or premises where you do not work - does not have the same civil law protection, but is not a criminal offence. It is worth remembering that the police do not have any enhanced powers over secondary pickets and it is not their job to enforce the civil law on picketing, even if an injunction is in force. Their general powers in this area are dealt with below.
Police Powers and Picketing
Giving the police greater power to control and restrict picketing was a primary purpose of the POA. Any picket of two or more people is a 'public assembly' and therefore subject to police conditions under the POA. In addition to the power to impose conditions, the police possess a wide range of public order powers to restrict and control picketing and to arrest pickets for various offences. These include:
• Obstruction of the highway on the basis of too many pickets, even if they are moving, or a single picket trying to compel a driver to stop and listen.
• Obstruction of the police - for example, refusing to comply with lawful directions when the police are acting to prevent a breach of the peace.
• Using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour (Section 4, POA).
• Disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress (Section 5, POA).
• Aggravated trespass (Section 68, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994)
Public Meetings
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, including town halls and council buildings, church halls, football stadia, pubs, become 'public places' when public meetings are held there. A meeting could be any number of people and there is no duty to advertise it or to offer tickets widely. Local council meetings are public (except for confidential parts of the agenda).
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. Stewards should be easily identifiable, but they should not wear a uniform to promote a political objective or signify membership of a political organisation. They must not try to take over the functions of the police or use force to promote a political objective (these acts would be illegal). They can 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.
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. The maximum penalty is six months' imprisonment and/or a fine up to £1000. If a police officer is present and reasonably suspects you of trying to disrupt the meeting, then, at the chairperson's request, he or she can ask you for your name and address. It is an offence if you fail to give these details or give a false name or address (maximum penalty is a fine at level 1 – currently £200).
If there is serious disruption or aggression, and if the police believe that you are involved, then, relying on their common law powers to prevent a breach of the peace, the police could ask you to leave the meeting, threatening you with arrest if you refused, or they could arrest you for an offence under Section 4 or Section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986 (POA).
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 POA. 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 subject to a banning order. Organisers should be aware that plain clothes police officers might attend political meetings without authority for the purpose of collecting information.
Election Meetings
The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes special provision for public meetings held at the time of local or national elections. All candidates are entitled to use rooms in local schools and other publicly owned meeting halls, free of charge, for election meetings provided that the meetings are open to the public and are intended to further the candidates' prospects by discussion of election issues. Some local authorities have refused permission to the National Front to use their premises for election meetings on the grounds that the National Front did not intend their meetings to be genuinely open to the public or because damage was likely to be caused to the premises. In 1986, the Court of Appeal upheld the right of a British National Party candidate to be allowed to use a schoolroom for an election meeting and ruled that a candidate who was refused such access could sue the local authority to enforce his or her rights under the election law.
The Representation of the People Act 1983 makes it an offence, punishable with a fine up to level 5 (currently £5,000), to disrupt, or to incite others to disrupt, an election meeting. If a police officer reasonably suspects you of trying to disrupt the meeting, then, at the chairperson's request, he or she can ask you for your name and address and it is an offence if you fail to give these details or falsify them (maximum penalty is a fine at level 1 – currently £200). Police powers for public meetings also apply to election meetings.
Private Meetings
A meeting is private if members of the public are not free to attend, in payment or otherwise (for example, the meeting of a trade union branch or a political party). A private meeting remains private even though it is held in a public building such as a town hall. Organisers can refuse entry or require someone to leave. Private meetings are governed by the rules of the organisation involved, or by conditions specified by the organisers together with any requirements, for example, as to maximum numbers, which apply to the premises where the meeting takes place. Unless the organisers invite the police, they have no right to enter a private meeting and can be asked to leave unless they are present to prevent crime or an imminent breach of the peace.
Picketing
For more than a century, trade unions and organised groups of workers have used picketing as a powerful means of protecting their employment rights and improving the conditions in which they are expected to work. In recent years, picketing has been used by campaigning and protest groups as an effective way of bringing their views to public attention, for example, by picketing premises where politicians are due to attend, demonstrating outside head offices of organisations and 'blockading' ports and airports supporting live animal exports. The law gives special status to picketing when it is related to an industrial dispute, but no special exemption under the criminal law. However, most picketing is lawful unless it causes an obstruction of the highway or is designed to intimidate.
You are protected under the civil law if you picket in connection with an industrial dispute at or near your workplace for the purpose of peacefully obtaining or communicating information or peacefully persuading any person to work or abstain from working (Trade Union and Labour Relations Act 1992). Employers have increasingly used the civil courts to get injunctions in order to limit the effectiveness of picketing. Injunctions have been granted on the basis that it was not the workplace of some or all of the pickets, or that the picketing was not peaceful. Unions that continue to picket in breach of an injunction are in contempt of court and liable to pay very heavy fines. By injunction the court can limit the location and number of pickets and impose conditions on their conduct.
No legal case has been decided which specifies that a particular number of pickets at the location of an industrial dispute will always be lawful. But a government Code of Practice, which the courts can refer to, suggests that the number of pickets at any entrance to a workplace should not generally exceed six. In applications for injunctions, the civil courts have tended to set the upper limit of the number of pickets that must be allowed at six. Other cases have given the police very wide discretion to limit the number of pickets if they believe it to be necessary to prevent a breach of the peace or an obstruction of the highway.
Secondary picketing - picketing at a workplace or premises where you do not work - does not have the same civil law protection, but is not a criminal offence. It is worth remembering that the police do not have any enhanced powers over secondary pickets and it is not their job to enforce the civil law on picketing, even if an injunction is in force. Their general powers in this area are dealt with below.
Police Powers and Picketing
Giving the police greater power to control and restrict picketing was a primary purpose of the POA. Any picket of two or more people is a 'public assembly' and therefore subject to police conditions under the POA. In addition to the power to impose conditions, the police possess a wide range of public order powers to restrict and control picketing and to arrest pickets for various offences. These include:
• Obstruction of the highway on the basis of too many pickets, even if they are moving, or a single picket trying to compel a driver to stop and listen.
• Obstruction of the police - for example, refusing to comply with lawful directions when the police are acting to prevent a breach of the peace.
• Using threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour (Section 4, POA).
• Disorderly conduct likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress (Section 5, POA).
• Aggravated trespass (Section 68, Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994)
