demonstration-by-Tal-DahanACRI petitioned the Supreme Court to order police to stop demanding that applicants who request licences to protest bear criminal responsibility for any violation by demonstrators. The petition was filed together with four activists who are involved in organizing protests against the gas deal across Israel – Adi Peled and Itamar Parchi from Tel Aviv, Alon Visser from Be’er Sheva and Naama Lezimi from Haifa.
ACRI claimed that the police have no authority to impose this as a condition for obtaining a licence to demonstrate; and that this amounts to a violation of the freedom to protest. Courts have ruled many times that the responsibility for ensuring public order at demonstrations rests exclusively with the police, and the police cannot transfer this responsibility to protesters. Furthermore, the organizers of the demonstrations cannot guarantee that all participants in the demonstration behave in accordance with the law.
Apart from the illegal condition being imposed, the police recently started instituting criminal proceedings against applicants for licences on suspicion of disorderly conduct offenses, by other demonstrators. One might recall the absurd measures that police took against the organizers of protests in Tel Aviv and Be’er Sheva, who were not even present at the protest at the time of the riots. Nevertheless, they were summoned to investigations and restraining orders were issued against them. ACRI claims that even if the organizers had been present, it would not have been their responsibility to maintain public order.
In some cases, police demands that this be a condition of obtaining a license to protest led to the cancellation of planned demonstrations. For example, a planned demonstration in Kiryat Shmona was cancelled because the organizers were reluctant to sign the clause requiring them to accept criminal responsibility, after learning about the abuse experienced by other organizers. In only one case on 23 November in Tel Aviv, an activist negotiated with police and managed to get a licence without the condition.
“The police convey a message that anyone who dares to exercise their right to protest is being targeted. Activists will not organize demonstrations for fear of what awaits them. It is clear that this condition is not permitted, and that the organizers have no practical way of guaranteeing the behaviour of all participants in the demonstration. It is the police’s role to assist the organizers of demonstrations to exercise their rights and not to put unnecessary obstacles in their way,” explained Attorney Sharona Eliahu-Chai, an expert on the freedom of expression and demonstration at ACRI.
For more information please see:
The police must stop infringing upon the freedom of demonstration
ACRI’s petition to Acting Chief Police Commander, Benzi Sau (in Hebrew)
