Protest: An assembly is not unlawful until it behaves unlawfully
12 May 2016
GANJIKI WAYNE
DID you know there is no law that requires the public to have the permission of the police to conduct a peaceful assembly?
That’s why the police have not yet provided the proper legal reference that makes protesting assemblies “unlawful” in Papua New Guinea, which they keep claiming. There is no such thing as “illegal protest” in law.
The criminal offence of “unlawful assembly” (also named “riot” in the Criminal Code) can only be unlawful if the people gathered start behaving in a manner that the causes the neighbourhood to fear that the assembly will “tumultuously [violently] disturb the peace” or provoke other people to disturb the peace. Only then can it be called an “unlawful assembly”.
The Peace and Good Order Act only applies to a particular place and a particular time (and can extend for no more than one month. The Governor General must designate the time and place in the National Gazette and it must be republished in every media outlet.
Only during such times is there a requirement for the people to apply to a designated committee (not the police alone) for permission to hold an assembly or procession. The purpose of that Act is to control “processions and public meetings in certain circumstances and at certain times”.
It seems that this week the police prematurely called the proposed assembly unlawful -simply because they did not give permission. But there is no law requiring such permission if the Peace and Good Order Act has not been activated.
If the police deem unlawful assembly as assemblies without police permission, then every single gathering of three people or more in a public place has to be deemed unlawful: Christian crusades, ethnic meetings outside Kone Tigers rugby field, casual barbecues at Ela Beach and so on.
Anyway, who am I kidding? The law doesn’t really mean much anymore so I’m just wasting my time with this piece.
References:
Criminal Code: http://www.paclii.org/pg/legis/consol_act/cca1974115/
Peace and Good Order Act: http://www.paclii.org/pg/legis/consol_act/pagoa1991154/
Disclaimer: This is not legal advice. The author is not liable for any action taken on this. Independent legal advice must be sought.
What ‘rule of law’ where enforcers perturb utterly?
Posted by: Lindsay F Bond | 13 May 2016 at 11:03 AM
Thanks, Ganjiki, for this timely and useful sharing of information on the law regarding freedom of assembly and protests.
Posted by: Michael Dom | 12 May 2016 at 11:27 PM