PART IV.  POLICING SITUATIONS However, this can only be done in accordance with the law. In Poland, the penal code sets up penalties for those who disperse a lawful gathering using violence.260 Steps to take when dispersing an assembly Law enforcement officials should first inform the organizers and participants, using verbal instructions, ordering people to disperse and informing them where they can or should go by using a microphone or loudhailer or, when that is not available, simply their own voice, unless doing so would be clearly inappropriate or pointless. People should be given sufficient time to comply with the order and disperse voluntarily.261 GIVING A WARNING AND MAKING SURE IT IS UNDERSTOOD In France law enforcement officials need to give such orders twice before they can actually disperse a crowd.a In Portugal the order to disperse, and the reasons for it, needs to be handed over in writing to the organizers of the assembly.b Some States also provide warnings in two or more languages to ensure wider and more comprehensive communication.c a See Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/26/36, 1 April 2014, para. 91. b See OSCE Monitoring Report 2013-2014, para. 297. See Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/26/36, 1 April 2014, para. 91. c Before forcibly dispersing a crowd, participants should know that a warning has been given and should be given sufficient time to comply with it. Those that do comply should be facilitated to do so, and protected, for example by being taken to a safe space. Only those participants who fail to comply with the order to disperse can be dispersed by force, but the type of force to be used will depend on: • The characteristics of the scene: can people run away? Force should never be used against trapped people • The number and characteristics of the demonstrators: are there children, elderly people, pregnant women, people with disabilities • The number of law enforcement officials present • Type of equipment available For dispersing a crowd, law enforcement officials can make use of horses to direct the crowd, or various types of equipment, provided they are adequately regulated, including water cannon, tear gas and batons. Whenever law enforcement officials apply any of these tools in order to disperse the crowd, particular care should be taken to allow for the crowd to leave, that is: there should be somewhere they can go to rather than being driven into a corner, and also the police should be prepared to take control over the area immediately after the dispersal. As mentioned before, firearms should not be used to disperse a crowd. 260  261  See OSCE, Office of the Secretary General Strategic Police Matters Unit, 2009. See OSCE, Guidelines on Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, Explanatory Notes, para. 168. 119