23 person against whom force is used and to the legitimate objective sought. Proportionate force may also be used, where necessary, to protect a detainee, including where he or she is self-harming. 6.3 DURING ASSEMBLIES (PUBLIC ORDER MANAGEMENT) 6.3.1 Law enforcement officials should respect and protect the right of peaceful assembly, without discrimination and in accordance with international law.73 The fundamental human rights of participants shall be respected and protected, even if an assembly is considered unlawful by the authorities.74 Appropriate de-escalation techniques should be used to minimize the risk of violence. Law enforcement officials should recall that heavy displays of less-lethal equipment may escalate tensions during assemblies. Where force is proportionate and is necessary to achieve a legitimate law enforcement objective, all possible precautionary steps shall be taken to avoid, or at least minimize, the risk of injury or death.75 6.3.2 In an assembly in which certain individuals are behaving violently, law enforcement officials have a duty to distinguish between those individuals and other assembly participants,76 whose individual right to peaceful assembly should be unaffected. If it is decided that less-lethal weapons are an appropriate means of addressing individual acts of violence, due care should be given to the likely proximity of third parties and bystanders. 6.3.3 The use of less-lethal weapons to disperse an assembly should be considered a measure of last resort. Before approving dispersal, law enforcement agencies should seek to identify any violent individuals and isolate them from the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, article 21; Human Rights Council resolution 25/38, paras. 3–4. 74 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), paras. 13–17 and 25. 75 Ibid., para. 52. See also Human Rights Council resolution 25/38, para. 9. 76 OHCHR, Human Rights and Law Enforcement: A Manual on Human Rights Training for Law Enforcement Officials, chap. 9. 73