19 June; 12.10 pm
Members of the Right2Know Campaign have taken to the streets to march the manner in which Metro Police has adopted to keep the people from partaking in protest action.
Julie Reid, Gauteng coordinator of the Right2Know Campaign, was on the scene and was able to elaborate on the unlawful requirements requested by the Metro Police.
“The reason that we’re protesting here is because we find that Metro Police is consistently using an unlawful set of checklists and stipulations to prevent protests happening within the city. We’re finding that its out of line with the Regulations and Gatherings Acts and the Constitution,” she explained.
She then continued to explain that they have allegedly requested a number of unlawful stipulations including R140 administration fee, as well as the ID’s and house addresses of the protesters.
“What they’re basically doing is using a number bureaucratic policies which are out of line with the Regulations and Gatherings Act to close down the people’s right to protest,” she continued.
The campaign refused to provide the unreasonable documentation stipulated by the Metro Police and were banned from protesting yesterday.
It is for this reason that they have split into a number of teams, based around the Joburg CBD, of less than 15 in order to continue their protest in small enough groups so that it does not constitute as a protest under the law.
19 June; 09.45 am
Today the Right2Know Campaign Gauteng will gather at the Metro police offices at Wemmer Complex, corner of Loveday Street and Village Road to protest at the “police’s consistent attempts to block protest actions”.
The protest will start from 11am to 1pm.
According to a statement released by the group, the police have employed the use of a checklist – saying that organisations which do not fulfill all requirements of the checklist may not protest. “This is a violation of our Constitutional rights and we demand the scrapping of the checklist,” the statement read.
They said according to the police checklist before anyone can protest they must:
- Get a letter from a ward councillor
- Get a letter from the person/organisation they are protesting against
- Arrange parking for taxis transporting protesters
- Pay a fee of R140 and attend a Section 4 meeting that can only ever happen on a Wednesday. (The organisation believes this serves to prevent protests from taking place if the protest is scheduled for a Thursday.)
Furthermore, the group also believes that the Metro police notification procedure, which doesn’t allow fax or e-mail notification of a planned protest or gathering, is completely different from what is stipulated in the Regulations of Gatherings Act, and it is, therefore, unlawful.
“It is clear to us that the Metro police are making up their own rules with regards to protests and gatherings, and using its own self-invented, unlawful and bureaucratic procedures to clamp down and prevent people from practicing their Constitutional right to protest,” said the statement.
Among the group’s demands are that Metro police accept e-mail and faxes as legitimate notification for protests. After the notification is sent to the Metro police, they want the police to schedule a Section 4 meeting with the relevant organisation within 24 hours.
The group wants the checklist to be scrapped immediately, and the Metro police must immediately desist from asking for a R140 administration fee, a letter from a ward councillor, a letter from the person or organisation that is being protested against, and proof of available parking for taxis – since none of this is in accordance with the Regulations of Gatherings Act.
