Question reference: S6W-12045
- Asked by: Mercedes Villalba, MSP for North East Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 10 November 2022
-
Current status: Answered by Keith Brown on 24 November 2022
Question
To ask the Scottish Government, in light of the report of the Short Life Working Group on Facilitating Peaceful Assemblies, what steps it is taking to ensure that the proposed human rights-based approach to peaceful assemblies does not lead to financial charges being placed on the organisers of such assemblies for logistical reasons, including road closures.
Answer
The right to peaceful assembly and protest is a right that we all have and the Scottish Government wants to encourage the exercise of that right wherever possible. While it is not an absolute right - and conditions and prohibitions can be imposed where required and in the interests of a democratic society - the Scottish Government is clear that it should not be dependent on the ability to pay.
For each march or parade, local authorities and their partners, including Police Scotland and Transport Scotland (where the event is to take place on a trunk road), will consider traffic management issues and the various powers available to the agencies involved to regulate traffic, including Temporary Traffic Regulation Orders (TTROs).
In their report, published on 2 November 2022, the Independent Short-Life Working Group on Facilitating Peaceful Assembly in Scotland has made a range of recommendations including on traffic management issues as they relate to assembly. The Scottish Government will work with partners to consider these recommendations, including those on costs, in due course.