Conspiracy
| Author | Vicky Thirlaway |
| Published date | 01 December 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0022018317749399 |
| Date | 01 December 2017 |
| Subject Matter | Comment |
Comment
Conspiracy: An Alarming
Response to Peaceful Protest?
Vicky Thirlaway
Department of Law and Criminology, Sheffield Hallam University, UK
Abstract
The proliferation of statutory and common law powers that can be utilised to manage and
control public protest gives the police a wide range of options to in any given scenario and
requires a careful balance to be struck between the maintenance of order and facilitation of
convention rights. This paper discusses a novel use of the criminal law of conspiracy and
considers the potential benefits of this approach and the ramifications for the protection of
convention rights. It is submitted that the controversial use of the criminal law against Chinese
dissidents in the UK was perhaps a result of the law of unintended consequences arising from
the development of a body of law that has been piecemeal and reactive.
Keywords
Public order, Conspiracy, Freedom Of Association and Assembly, Protest
The Protest
On 23 October 2015, during the visit of the Chinese prime minister to Britain, two Tibetan women,
Sonam Choden and Jampel Lhamo, and a survivor of Tiananmen Square, Shao Jiang, were arrested
during what appeared from descriptions to have been a small, low-key protest.
1
All three were arrested
for offences of conspiracy to contravene s. 5 of the Public Order Act 1986. Shao Jiang was arrested first,
as he neared the official vehicles heading towards Mansion Gate holding two small placards. A short
while later, the Tibetan women were arrested as they attempted to unfurl a Tibetan flag. No charges were
brought, and Shao Jiang has now lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Complaints Commis-
sion.
2
Lawyers representing the acti vists expressed surprise at th e arrest, stating that they had not
encountered the use of conspiracy to contravene s. 5 in any previous case.
3
This novel use of statutory
Corresponding author:
Vicky Thirlaway, UK.
E-mail: v.thirlaway@shu.ac.uk
1. P. Walker, ‘Xi JinpingProtesters Arrested and Homes Searched over LondonDemonstrations’, The Guardian,23 October 2015.
2. S. Jiang, ‘Amnesty International Blog’, 11 December 2015. Available at: https://www.amnesty.org.uk/blogs/shao-jiang
(accessed 6 March 2016)
3. Walker, above n. 1.
The Journal of Criminal Law
2017, Vol. 81(6) 455–466
ªThe Author(s) 2017
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DOI: 10.1177/0022018317749399
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