Demonstrations can be banned by law, unless such action is disproportionate, the Council of State confirmed this week in response to a request from the Chamber.
The legislators had asked for the Council's opinion on the possibility of legally banning protests, in reference to a section of a bill aimed at rendering justice "more humane, faster and firmer." According to the Justice Ministry, the bill is aimed mainly at rioters and other violent protesters.
The Council opined that, "in the open air, preventive measures are in principle possible."
"When individuals commit violent offences during an assembly, the European Court of Human Rights recognises that the State has a certain discretionary power to assess the need to impose a restriction on freedom of assembly," it said. "The imposition of a sanction is therefore accepted unless it is 'disproportionate'."
"The envisaged legislation, which contains an individual sanction, does not appear to be considered disproportionate," the Council of State noted in its opinion, which Belga News Agency was able to consult.
Furthermore, the Council added, "the ECHR [European Convention on Human Rights] states that the limitation of this right (to demonstrate) for individual participants is justified by the prevention of crime and by the protection of the rights and freedoms of others."
The Council of State noted that the bill does not create a new offence, but only provides for an additional penalty that can be imposed in addition to the main penalty for an offence committed "knowingly, voluntarily and intentionally."
Only the Dutch version of the notice was immediately available. Once the French translation is ready, the parliamentary process can resume. The text has already been adopted at the committee level. It is therefore likely that it will be included on the agenda of the Chamber's plenary session on 19 October.
On Thursday morning, trade unions and civil society organisations took to the streets to protest against the bill. Over 10,000 people demonstrated, according to the unions; 7,000 according to the police. The demonstrators fear the law could become a lever for restricting peaceful demonstrations also.
In a reaction released on Friday evening, the Minister of Justice also explained why a limit of 100 persons is included in the bill. "If there is only a small group of criminal rioters, the police can isolate them, but these troublemakers naturally rely on the anonymity of the masses to commit their misdeeds," he said.
"If there are enough demonstrators present to divert the attention of the police, then they hope to be able to be violent and destructive with impunity," he explained. "That's why the 100-person threshold has been set. It also goes to show that we're really only targeting criminal rioters."
