Photo by ActivestillsOn 28 November 2011, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) has written to the legal adviser of the Israeli police, Brigadier-General attorney Shaul Gordon, following repeated incidents in which the police conditioned permits for demonstrations upon various illegal and unreasonable demands, such as requiring a permit from the local authority or demands pertaining to securing the demonstration and to maintaining public safety during it. These conditions burdened protest organizers and even prevented them from realizing their constitutional right to demonstrate.
It seems that such incidents are the result of a mistaken interpretation, by some of the district commanders and heads of divisions, of the laws regarding protest and demonstrations. Therefore, in this letter ACRI asked the police legal adviser to clarify the legal situation and to instruct police commanders to act in accordance with the law and in accordance with the role of police in a democratic country – to protect the constitutional right to freedom of expression and protest and to enable the realization of this right.
Update: More than two months since the letter was sent, ACRI has still not received any reply. Due to the great importance of clarifying the legal situation and removing the illegal obstacles placed on the right to protest, on 7 February 2012 ACRI has again sent a letter to the legal adviser of the police, demanding a reply.
In the letter, ACRI attorney Nira Shalev writes: “As you know, freedom of expression and freedom of protest are among the basic human rights in Israel. The Supreme Court has more than once noted the importance of the right to protest as a central mechanism to voice opinions and to place social issues on the public agenda in a democratic country. The Supreme Court has further acknowledged this right as an inseparable part of the right to dignity that is legally anchored in the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty (HCJ 2557/05) […]
“As a general rule, the role of the Israeli police is to protect the freedom of protest of Israeli residents and to enable them to realize this freedom, and not vice versa. Therefore, a district commander must narrowly implement his or her authority to condition a demonstration and must enable protesters to realize their right without burdening them with unnecessary difficulties […]
“In order to prevent such incidents, we would appreciate it if you could clarify the legal situation to police commanders and anchor specific instructions on this matter in internal regulations. Some of the issues mentioned in this letter are already anchored in internal regulations, but following repeated incidents of the kind detailed in this letter, it seems that there is a need to bolster and clarify existing regulations.”
