As I stated in my broadcast, ‘KNOWLEDGE IS POWER’…and with the unacceptable and unlawful actions many current police Constables are taking, especially during large protests, I am making it a mission of mine to try to share some of the legal knowledge I have gleaned over the past three years of, (accidentally), being a political activist.
Many of my activities happened to have been captured on video, either by myself or others and so much of what I refer to, especially with regard to my personal police encounters can be seen by You Tube; (simply type ‘Based Amy or ‘Amy_CrazyWorld or even ‘Amy Bacon Lady’, (the last one will contain footage of my ‘adventures/ and ‘misadventures’ at Speaker’s Corner, Hyde Park, 2018)!
Below, I will link the two legal references I spoke about last night, with regards to the police and their codes of practice or how they like to refer to them, as ‘PACE’, which is the abbreviation for, ‘Police and Criminal Evidence’ Act and the, ‘ECHR Article 5: Freedom & Security, with regards to our rights… Strictly speaking I prefer to go by English Law and as it happens, it’s the same Article number, just referencing: The Human Rights Act, 1998, (Article 5).
Unfortunately, English legislation today has become so convoluted and to such a degree that it can be hard to know which right refers to which legislation. I will try to keep references as straightforward as possible, so that those individuals who are out peacefully protesting, will gain the confidence, especially during moments of high stress, (such as when random ‘POLICY OFFICERS’ suddenly and quite aggressively, decide to order them about using high levels of noise, i.e. SHOUTING), to be able to bring to their mind key aspects of their LEGAL rights to quote back to the shouty police, in order to protect themselves against any abuse of police powers.
As it happens, just recently on the 3rd of August, during a large rally for Tommy Robinson, the police gradually became restless and as can be witness on many video clips, they became restless and decided to suddenly bark out to all and sundry,
“You are now breaking Section 14 of The Public Order Act, so if you do not disperse immediately, you will be liable to arrest….!”
After reviewing much of the video footage available on You Tube, I observed that many people either tried to comply with the orders being barked at them or gave minimal resistance.
As can be seen by the video below, I wasn’t quite so compliant or cooperative:
I referenced ’29J’, which wasn’t the appropriate article to use, under the particular circumstances shown in these clips, but it happened to work! (Most of the policy officers have no idea which piece of legislation 29J refers to and rather than look foolish, they either agreed or disagreed, until the end when they retreated.
Now, the legal Article which I spoke about last night in the show, is more apt to use when a ‘Section 14′ is bandied about, and it’s one that I genuinely hope to hear being quoted by my fellow protesters many times , (ESPECIALLY, at the next demonstration in London on the 24th August, in just 12 days’ time); which is ‘Article 5 of the ECHR’.
The main reason for me to use this particular one is only because it’s directly referenced in the Police, ‘PACE Code G, which stipulates the ‘police powers of arrest’ and what he/she needs to bear in mind, with regards to a person’s legal rights of ‘Freedom and Security’, (per ECHR Article 5), when making the decision of whether or not to arrest that person.
As I explain it somewhat in the first video, I will not repeat myself now; however, I will attach the relevant legislative documents’ links below and hope that many will take the time to read and digest the relevant parts.
PACE CODE G:
ECHR Article 5:
https://www.echr.coe.int/Documents/Guide_Art_5_ENG.pdf
I do prefer to reference English law whenever possible and the equivalent English law is:
Human Rights Act, 1998 Article 5:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1998/42/schedule/1/part/I/chapter/4
(As it happens, in my online shop, I do have some reference cards available for people to purchase and wear at protests, which include the rights to peaceful protest under English Common Law, Article 61 of the Magna Carta 1215)..
Please do comment about this article below, as I’d appreciate the feedback:
