The Czech Interior Ministry has elaborated an amendment to the law on the right to assemble on the basis of its experiences with demonstrations in recent years. The deadline for the draft amendment to be submitted to the Government is the end of October 2014 with a proposed date of effect of 1 July 2015.
A press release from the Interior Ministry says the amendment will not change the conditions for either banning or dissolving assemblies, as those flow directly from norms that have constitutional force (the Charter of Fundamental Rights and Freedoms, the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms), which means it is not possible to add or expand the reasons for banning or dissolving an assembly. The aim of the amendment is to enhance the powers of municipal authorities at the moment an assembly is announced.
Currently it is very difficult for municipalities to regulate, for example, a specific place where an assembly is announced or any eventual clashes between two announced assemblies, or clashes of assemblies with cultural, sports or other events (such as concerts or Christmas markets). If the amendment is adopted, a municipal authority will be able to take a decision to adjust the terms under which an assembly is held if there is a risk that public order might be disturbed, property threatened, etc.
Until now it has only been possible to ban an assembly based on the very few reasons to do so listed in the law, and municipal authorities have not been able to impose any binding obligations on the conveners of assemblies – at the most, they could only do their best to reach an agreement with the conveners. The amendment will not affect the fact that the law on the right to assembly does not apply to unannounced marches by sports fans on their way to stadiums, as the aim of such marches is not to express political or other opinions, but simply to proceed to a sports venue.
Another important change is that the amendment will relax the ban on demonstrators masking their faces. Currently it is not possible, under a literal interpretation of the law, to have one’s face masked in any way during the course of an assembly, which has been criticized in the past by the Czech Government Human Rights Council.
The amendment proposes that municipal authorities be given the option of deciding whether to ban masks for a specifically announced assembly should there be reasons to do so, and the Police of the Czech Republic would then have the power to call on those participating in the assembly to remove their face coverings during the course of the assembly. The responsibility of the convener of an assembly to be personally present at an assembly he or she has announced would also be expressly anchored in the law, and the absence of the convener would be sanctioned (this is supposed to restrict the number of events announced six months in advance, etc.).
The amendment would also simplify the dissolving of assemblies – this would become a de facto legal act taken by a representative of the local authority or the police that would be directly subjected to court review (i.e., not a decision verbally announced at the scene for which a confirmation must be issued and for which a written version must later be compiled and delivered). The amendment would adjust and tighten penalties for offenses committed by the convener of and the participants in an assembly (such as failure to fulfill the obligations set forth by the municipal authority, failure to fulfill one’s responsibilities as a convener, absence of the convener at the assembly, interference with the execution of the right to assemble, or failure to fulfill instructions from the local authority).
