Recommendation 1

The ECHR is intended to provide rights that are “practical and effective” not “theoretical and illusory”. A right to peaceful protest would not appear to us to fulfil this requirement if the peaceful protest cannot be seen and, crucially in this context, heard. A power that would allow the police to move the location of a demonstration, limit its numbers or duration, or even to silence certain shouts or chants, in order to suppress noise is therefore of significant concern.