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Originally Posted by DomStLeger
He was arrested after a protest outside the sudanese embassy. Not that Interesting in it's self, I know. However I was interested to read what he was charged with:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertain...lm/3600520.stm
Can any americans just tell me, what is an "Unlawful Assembly"? I got a bigbrother vibe from that statement and was wondering whether I misunderstood. Do you have to get permission in the US for a certain number of people to gather to protest, or is it just outside an embassy/certain buildings? |
Hello, Dom!
Actually, Unlawful Assembly is a criminal act defined by law (whether or not it is BIG brother is another thing altogether). Law describes it as: A disturbance of the public peace by three or more persons who meet together with an intent mutually to assist each other in the execution of some unlawful enterprise of a private nature, with force and violence; if they move forward towards its execution, it is then a rout (q.v.) and if they actually execute their design, it amounts to a riot. This basically appeals to the Clear and Present Danger clause as well. If a public disturbance has the "vibe" of turning violent or stirs of violent speech, emotional reactions, etc. then the gathering can be deemed Unlawful Assembly under the Clear and Present Danger clause. This may also mean that there is proof that those "assembling" were in the middle of planning some kind of illegal act, such as property damage, etc.
Maybe this makes sense. But, hey, it's U.S. criminal law. It doesn't need to make sense, right?
Kirk
