116 Resource book on the use of force and firearms in law enforcement 7.3.  Use of force during assemblies General principles Law enforcement officials should prepare well for an assembly and do their utmost to facilitate it in such a manner that force will not be needed. It should be remembered that any public assembly must be presumed to be peaceful and lawful, until proven otherwise. The burden of proof is with the authorities.248 Under no circumstances should force be used against peaceful demonstrators who are unable to leave the scene. Principles 12, 13 and 14 of the BPUFF specifically deal with the policing of assemblies. As peaceful assemblies should be allowed, in principle law enforcement officials should not be authorized to disperse them, even when they are unlawful under domestic law. When an assembly occurs in violation of applicable laws but is otherwise peaceful, non-intervention or active facilitation is generally seen as the best way to respond to ensure a peaceful outcome. If however it has to be dispersed, all reasonable attempts should be made to have participants do so voluntarily; law enforcement officials should use force only if absolutely necessary and only to the minimum extent required. The dispersal of an assembly by law enforcement authorities should only ever be undertaken as an exceptional, necessary and proportionate measure, based on lawful grounds that are compliant with international human rights standards. When an assembly is violent, law enforcement officials may decide to use force to disperse. However, even in those circumstances firearms may only be used to protect against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. The BPUFF expressly state that firearms should not be used to disperse a peaceful or a non-violent assembly, even when it is unlawful. Principle 14 of the BPUFF only allows the use of firearms to disperse the participants when an assembly is violent, and provided that: • Less dangerous means are not practicable, and • • They are used only to the minimum extent possible and Only in accordance with principle 9, that is in self-defence or in defence of others against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Firearms should not be used during an assembly, unless the law enforcement officers have individualized those posing an imminent threat of death or serious injury from uninvolved bystanders or others that do not pose such threat, are capable of neutralizing those persons without risk to others, and when no other less violent means are available or are likely to be effective. They should only be used against those violent individuals within the assembly posing an imminent threat of death or serious injury. Firearms shall never be used to fire indiscriminately into a crowd.249 It is considered good practice to invite a human rights adviser to the control room to advise and assess the necessity and proportionality of the actions taken, as it is the case in Northern Ireland.250 248  See Report of the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, A/HRC/20/27, 21 May 2012, para. 45. The High Commissioner on Human Rights has stressed that “an assembly should be deemed peaceful if its organizers and participants have peaceful intentions and do not use, advocate or incite violence; such features should be presumed”; Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. A/HRC/22/28, 21 Jan 2013, para. 10. 249  See Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, A/HRC/17/28, 23 May 2011, para. 61; “nothing can ever justify the indiscriminate use of lethal force against a crowd, which is unlawful under international human rights law.” United Nations Doc. A/HRC/25/L.20, 24 March 2014, Operative paragraph 11. 250  See 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. 71.