PART IV.  POLICING SITUATIONS Arrests It may be necessary to arrest one or more participant(s) in the assembly who have violated the law, including when participants vandalize public or private property, such as looting a shop, or a participant who is trying to convey a message that amounts to incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. In these instances, the police can arrest the individual and law enforcement officials should make sure to have provisions in place for apprehending, searching, arresting, holding and transferring persons for prompt judicial review in order to ensure their rights are respected. Special procedures should be provided for children that come into contact with law enforcement in these contexts. It may be useful in this regard to record video footage of what is occurring for use as evidence, should a case be brought to court, and to be able to make further enquiries and arrests when order is restored. Law enforcement officials can also gain access to public and private CCTV for these investigations, as the public may have recorded events and posted them online. Search warrants may be required to seize CCTV recordings Mass arrests should be avoided at all times as they fail to differentiate between participants and could amount to unlawful deprivation of liberty.251 Such arrests may amount to indiscriminate and arbitrary arrests, which are in violation of human rights law.252 Though there may be occasions when numerous arrests based on unlawful conduct are deemed necessary, this should not be because the law enforcement agencies do not have sufficient resources to individualize arrest decisions based on particularized facts.253 Dealing with pockets of violence It should be clearly understood that when some elements in the assembly behave violently, this does not mean that from that moment on the whole assembly is to be regarded as violent.254 Law enforcement officials should continue to differentiate between the violent elements and peaceful protesters and protect the peaceful protesters and only act against the violent protesters.255 In cases where a group starts to behave aggressively, action should be taken against these individuals. Whenever possible, these people should be removed from the crowd and possibly arrested, depending on their conduct, in order to allow other protesters to exercise their rights to assemble peacefully and express themselves. Assembly organizers should not be held liable for the violent behaviour committed by others.256 See OSCE Monitoring Report 2013-2014, para. 54. See Joint report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on the proper management of assemblies, A/HRC/31/66, para. 45. 253  See ICCPR, article 9; OSCE Monitoring Report 2013-2014, para. 283. 254  European Court of Human Rights, Ziliberberg v. Moldova, Application No. 61821/00, 2004; according to the ECHR, “an individual does not cease to enjoy the right to peaceful assembly as a result of sporadic violence or other punishable acts committed by others in the course of the demonstration, if the individual in question remains peaceful in his or her own intentions or behaviour”; Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/17/28 , 23 May 2011, para. 42; Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, A/HRC/20/27, 21 May 2012, para. 25. 255  See OSCE Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, Explanatory Notes, para. 167. 256  See Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A/HRC/22/28, 21 Jan 2013, para. 10; Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. A/HRC/20/27, 21 May 2012, para. 93; Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association. Addendum
Mission to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. A/HRC/23/39/Add.1, 17 June 2013, para. 70. 251  252  117