According to the BBC:
Last Updated: Wednesday, 21 December 2005, 21:32 GMTSingers defy Parliament demo ban
Carol singers have become the latest group to defy a ban on unauthorised protests around Parliament.
About 100 singers tested the limits of the new Serious Organised Crime and Police Act by singing in Parliament Square on Wednesday evening
The law bans demonstrating without police permission within a half-mile "exclusion zone".
No singers were arrested. Police said they treated it as a carol service, not a demonstration.
Hooray that nobody got arrested, however
A Metropolitan Police spokeswoman said: "We treated the event as a carol service and not as a demonstration so the legislation did not come into play."
This may be the common sense view, but it is not the law.
Under the stupid wording of the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 sections 132 to 138, the Metropolitan Police do not have any discretion in the matter.
The law says that the Commmissioner of Police for the Metropolis must automatically grant permission if he receives a written Application "at least 6 clear days" or at least 24 hours" beforehand i.e. no discretion and no exemptions whatsoever.
The only discretion that they can exercise is in the arbitrary Conditions which the Commisioner of Police for the Metropolis can apply to a wriiten application for prior permission. The senior policeman on the spot can vary or to the Conditions in any way once the "demonstration" is under way.
There is no list of exemptions which define what is and what is not a "demonstration" and it is not up to the whim of the Metropolitan Police to make such decisions. That is exactly why we have Parliament and the Judiciary.
It is inconceivable that the Metropolitan Police officers in charge of public order near Parliament Square can claim that they did not know whether or not prior permission , in writing, had been sought from the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Polce.
It is also inconceivable that they could, as per section 136 (5) they could "reasonably believe", that the offence of demonstrating without prior written permission was not being committed by the Carol Singers.
Remember that the Metropolitan Police were well aware of the planned Carol Service, to which they had been invited, but for which a written notice of application for prior permission had not been sought.
There are plenty of legitimate reasons why the Police "may" not arrest someone if the law is being broken, usually it is a matter of resources i.e. they are busy elsewhere, but that is clearly not the case within the Designated Area around Parliament Square.
It is not acceptable, and probably illegal, for the Metropolitan Police to claim that the SOCPA legislation does apply to a "demonstration" of some sort one day, and that it does not apply on another day.
Tim Ireland at Bloggerheads notes that:
The police did not dare show their faces. At all.
Once the cameras were pointed their way, even those at the gates of Parliament were quite obviously directed to keep a low profile. No-one in authority wanted a picture of police challenging this event to make the newspapers.
We have deep sympathy for the Metropolitan Police who are being distracted into NuLabour political repression of dissent, when they should really be concentrating on real criminal and terrorist threats to our people.
This country is full of stupid laws which carry completely unreasonable penalties. Gary Neville, for example, faces a large fine simply for celebrating a goal which he is only entitled to be delighted by. Equally, pensioners wh refuse to pay increases in council tax above the rate of inflation are jailed for a few pounds, even though the government has only increased their pensions by the rate of inflation. Similarly, anyone who makes any sensible but ont 'politically correct' comments such as that this country is being overwhlemed by immigrants, which is blatantly the case, is condemned as being racist and ostracised. IS this not a stupid situation, where people are penalised for doing or saying things that the majority of the population would agree with anyway. It is only that those in power like to wield their authority on the powerless people below them. Surely anyone whi is a judge or public prosecutor must be inherently cruel-minded and obsessed with wielding power over others.
"Surely anyone who is a judge or public prosecutor must be inherently cruel-minded and obsessed with wielding power over others"
Not necessarily: many people working for such organisations will simply be "obeying orders".
8-(
It is slightly hopeful that several of the Policemen who have been patrolling the Designated Area, and even some of those involved in the Arrests so far have clearly been unhappy with what they have been ordered to do.
Similarly the comments of the Magistrates do almost seem to be an encouragement for the cases which they have heard to go to Appeal, to a higher court, which is permitted to take on board the of the SOCPA Designated Area law's incompatibility with the fumndamental Human Rights of the Right to Free Speech and the Right to Freedom of Assembly.
Most of the public do not yet realise that it is not just "peace activists" who are at risk of being arrested and convicted under this stupid law.