Conscience and association / C2
Unannounced protest
The person organises a protest of 50 people in a public square with one day's notice to nobody. It is peaceful.
What we score
What can the state do to the organiser?
Default assumptions: Unless a vignette says otherwise, the person is a 30-year-old citizen of sound mind with no criminal record, acting alone, on their own behalf and not for profit, in an ordinary residential area. Where subnational units (states, provinces, cantons, Länder) make their own law, each unit is scored and the result is weighted by population. 'The state' includes police, prosecutors, courts, regulators, tax authorities and anyone acting on their orders, including platforms obeying takedown orders.
Score anchors
Both the law score and the practice score use these anchors. Half points are used when a country sits between two of them.
| Score | What it means for this vignette |
|---|---|
| 10 | Nothing; no notice needed. |
| 8 | Notice required; failing to give it is rarely enforced. |
| 6 | Permit needed, shall-issue; spontaneous protest tolerated. |
| 4 | Discretionary permit; unpermitted protests often dispersed. |
| 3 | Organiser fined. |
| 2 | Organiser charged with a crime: fine or under 1 year. |
| 1 | Crime: 1 to 5 years. |
| 0 | Over 5 years, or violent dispersal. |
Evidence used: Assembly law; notice and permit rules; enforcement against organisers.
How each country scores
| Country | Law | Practice | Process | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 9.5 | 9.5 | 0 | 9.5 | Irish law has no general requirement to notify or get permission for a public assembly; the right of peaceful assembly is protected by Article 40.6.1 of the Constitution. Gardaí can restrict a protest only for a breach of the peace or serious disruption, can restrict protests within half a mile of the Oireachtas while it sits, and 100-metre safe access zones around abortion providers apply under a 2024 Act. A peaceful 50-person protest in a square normally draws no action against the organiser. |
| United Kingdom | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9.0 | Advance notice (6 clear days) is required only for public processions (Public Order Act 1986 s11); static assemblies in a public square need none. Police may impose conditions under s14, and since the Public Order Act 2023 and Crime and Policing Act 2026 this includes conditions based on 'cumulative disruption' and face-covering zones. Some squares (Trafalgar Square, Parliament Square) are governed by byelaws or permits. Scotland and NI notice rules likewise apply to processions. A peaceful 50-person static protest normally draws no action against the organiser. |
| New Zealand | 9 | 9 | 0 | 9.0 | Bill of Rights Act s16 protects peaceful assembly, and no national law requires notice of, or a permit for, a static protest in a public square. Councils' bylaws may require bookings for events or road closures, and Summary Offences Act provisions on obstruction and disorder apply only to disruptive conduct. A peaceful 50-person rally is normally left alone. |
| Denmark | 8 | 8 | 0 | 8.0 | Grundloven § 79 gives the right to assemble unarmed without prior permission; police may ban open-air assemblies only if they threaten public peace. Police ask organisers to notify them at least 24 hours ahead but accept notice 'as soon as you have decided' for shorter-notice events, and no permission is needed. A peaceful 50-person gathering without notice is in practice tolerated; I found no reported fines on organisers for not notifying. |
| United States | 7 | 8 | 0 | 7.6 | No permit is needed for protests on sidewalks or for small groups in parks. Cities may require content-neutral permits for street marches, amplified sound or certain plazas, and the First Amendment requires exceptions for spontaneous protests reacting to current events (e.g. Chicago). Where a permit is validly required and missing, organisers can be cited or arrested for a misdemeanour. A peaceful 50-person gathering in a square is normally left alone. |
| Mexico | 8 | 7 | 0 | 7.4 | Federal law requires no permit. Mexico City's Ley de Movilidad (arts. 212-214) requires 48 hours' notice of marches. In AI 96/2014 the Supreme Court upheld the notice rule only under a conforming reading that it is not an authorisation and cannot by itself justify dispersal. Unannounced protests are routine in Mexico City and state capitals and usually tolerated, with occasional kettling and arrests at large marches. |
| Czechia | 3 | 7 | 0 | 5.4 | Assembly Act 84/1990 § 5 requires notice to the municipality at least 5 days in advance. Organising without notice is an administrative offence (§ 14(3)(a), fine up to 15,000 CZK). An unnotified assembly may be dissolved only if grounds for a ban exist (§ 12(2)), so a peaceful one is normally tolerated. Fines on organisers are occasional. |
| Netherlands | 2 | 7 | 0 | 5.0 | The Wet openbare manifestaties lets municipalities require advance notice (art. 4). The mayor may ban an unnotified demonstration or order it to disperse because notice was not given (arts. 5 and 7). Holding or joining a demonstration without the required notice is a minor offence punishable by up to 2 months' detention or a second-category fine (art. 11). In practice small peaceful unnotified protests are usually tolerated, with dispersal or fines possible. |
| Germany | 2.5 | 6 | −0.5 | 4.1 | Outdoor assemblies must be notified 48 hours in advance. Spontaneous and urgent assemblies are exempt only if notice was impossible. About 30% of the population lives in the eight Länder still applying the federal VersammlG, where running an unnotified assembly is a crime (up to 1 year or a fine, § 26 Nr. 2), scored 2. The other ~70% live in Länder with their own laws (Bavaria, NRW, Lower Saxony, Hesse, Berlin, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein), which in general make it an administrative fine, scored 3. Weighted that gives about 2.7, rounded to 2.5. Police usually let a small peaceful assembly proceed and file a report on the organiser. |
| Switzerland | 3 | 4 | −0.5 | 3.1 | Freedom of assembly is guaranteed (Constitution Art. 22), but nearly all cantons and cities require a permit for demonstrations on public ground. Organisers of unpermitted demonstrations can be fined under cantonal or municipal law, and Bern and Zurich (after a 2024 vote) can bill organisers for police costs. Small peaceful spontaneous gatherings are usually tolerated, though police sometimes disperse or kettle unpermitted demonstrations. |
| Singapore | 2 | 2 | −1 | 1.0 | Any public assembly outside Speakers' Corner needs a police permit, which the Commissioner may refuse. Under Public Order Act s16(1), an organiser of an unpermitted assembly faces a fine of up to S$5,000, or up to S$10,000 and/or 6 months for a repeat offender. Organisers are prosecuted: three women who walked to the Istana for Palestine in Feb 2024 were tried, acquitted in 2025, then convicted and fined S$3,000 each by the High Court in April 2026. |