4. BARRIERS Description: Police use many different kinds of barriers for managing public gatherings, including permanent structures, dynamic barriers – such as lines of mounted or unmounted officers (often armed with shields) or bicycle units – and rapidly deployable structures. The latter include barbed and razor wire, vehicles that are designed to rapidly deploy and/or act as barriers, and certain types of fences. Intended purpose: Barriers are used to limit or control the movement of public gatherings, including by preventing access to certain areas, determining the route which a public march will take, separating opposing groups of protesters or separating the gathering from law enforcement officials. The aims of deployment include the prevention of violence or confrontation, minimizing traffic disruption and preventing or limiting property damage. The use of barriers can facilitate protests while upholding the rights of others (e.g., by preventing protesters from blocking access to a privately owned businesses). Possible health and/or human rights implications of use in policing assemblies: Barriers can restrict the right to freedom of peaceful assembly by limiting the ability of participants to choose where they wish to convey their message and denying them the ability to effectively communicate their message within sight and sound of the target audience.18 Barriers are increasingly used to create zones where public gatherings are never allowed. The ODIHR Human Rights Handbook on Policing Assemblies states that any restrictions placed on an assembly must be lawful, necessary and proportionate, emphasizing that states “should always seek to facilitate and protect public assemblies at the organizers’ preferred time, location and manner”.19 Where restrictions are required to protect the rights and 18 19 OSCE, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly (2010), para. 3.5. ODIHR, Human Rights Handbook on Policing Assemblies, op. cit., note 2, p. 18.