expression-by-Tal-Dahan1On 3 December 2015 ACRI, along with four activists who protested against the gas deal across the country, filed a petition against the imposition of unlawful conditions on people who apply for licences to demonstrate. The condition requires that organisers accept criminal responsibility for any disturbance or prohibited behaviour by participants of the demonstration.
The police have relied on these unlawful conditions to pursue criminal proceedings against applicants after demonstrations, with respect to suspicion of offences committed by others – even when the applicants for the licences to demonstrate had no connection at all to the events. Protest organizers have experienced arrests, interrogations, restrictive conditions and restraining orders, the threat of indictment and harassment.
The petition claimed that police acted without authority, since the condition is not included in the type of conditions that may be imposed on applicants for licenses. Acceptable conditions relate to the time, place and the type of demonstration. Police have also breached their duty to allow the freedom of protest and to help organizers of demonstrations to exercise this right. Moreover, the court has stated many times that security at protests and maintaining public order is the role of the Israeli Police only, and that Police are not authorized to impose conditions or transfer this responsibility to demonstrators. The petition also argued that these conditions are not effective, because the applicant has no practical ability to guarantee the good behaviour of all participants at the demonstration or to ensure that they will comply with the law.
The petition claimed that the police are sending a message that anyone who dared to exercise their right to demonstrate “was being targeted” and suspected of illegal activities, which in turn creates fear among license applicants. We described cases in which this unacceptable practice has had a chilling effect on the freedom of demonstration.
In their response to the petition, the police agreed that the condition that organizers be held responsible for all the events that take place at a demonstration is illegitimate and illegal. The police announced that the organizers of the demonstration will only be criminally liable if they breach the terms of their license. If they comply with the licence then they will not be criminally responsible for the events that take place at the demonstration. The police response also noted that the investigations opened against applicants 1 and 2 are now closed.
In addition, it was noted that the police are working to improve the coherence of the provisions contained in the various districts demonstration licenses. The State’s position is that it is possible to impose specific requirements on the organizers of a demonstration, for example activities that are under the organizer’s effective control, subject to the reasonableness of these requirements.
ACRI agreed to delete the petition in light of the Police’s response. The court deleted the petition and charged the State expenses in the amount of NIS 5,000.
For more information see:
ACRI petition to the Supreme Court: It is illegal to impose criminal liability on protest organizers
The police must stop infringing upon the freedom of demonstration
ACRI’s petition to Acting Chief Police Commander, Benzi Sau (in Hebrew)
