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Review of Marches and Parades: A Survey of Views Across Scotland

CHAPTER THREE DECISIONS ABOUT MARCHES AND GENERAL PRINCIPLES

VIEWS ON WHAT SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT

3.1 Currently when taking decisions about marches, many local authorities feel the legislation only allows them to take a narrow range of issues into account based around public order and public safety. Clearly there could be a potential range of issues that might be taken into account when considering whether planned marches should go ahead, or whether restrictions should be placed on where and when they should take place. Respondents were asked about four different kinds of march: 'a local gala day parade with floats'; 'a demonstration by a political party or protest group such as a Trade Union, the National Front or the Countryside Alliance'; 'a demonstration, parade or march against a local hospital closure or another local issue'; and 'an Irish Republican march or an Orange Walk'. For each one, they were asked how important it was to take into account the following: 'the risk of serious damage to property', 'the risk to public safety', 'likely disruption to business', 'likely disruption to traffic', 'the cost of policing and clearing up afterwards', 'whether people might be offended or upset by it', 'whether it's a traditional march or parade', 'the number of other marches or parades there have been in the area', and 'freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate'.

3.2 Figure 3.1 illustrates the responses using mean scores. Put simply, if everyone said that an issue was 'not at all important' the mean score would be 0 and if everyone said an issue was 'very important' the mean score would be 4 - so the higher the mean score, the more importance was placed on that issue.

3.3 For every issue and for each type of march, a majority of respondents thought it was 'very important' or 'quite important' that the issue be taken into account. In other words, they thought that a wide range of issues should be considered.

Figure 3.1 How important is it to take into account…? (Mean scores) ⁸
Base: 676 (All respondents)

3.4 The relative order of importance of issue, for each type of march, is shown in Table 3.1. For each type of parade, the issue that respondents indicated was the most important consideration is marked 1 ^st, the 2 ^nd most important consideration is marked 2 ^nd, and so on.

Table 3.1 What should be taken into account - order of importance
Base: 676 (All respondents)

3.5 In general, the most important issues were 'the risk to public safety', 'freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate', 'the risk of serious damage to property' and 'the cost of policing and clearing up afterwards'. Although they were still seen as important, relatively less importance was placed on 'the number of other marches there have been in the area' and 'whether people might be offended or upset by it'.

3.6 Although the absolute extent to which each should be taken into account varied slightly, the order of importance for each issue was similar for local gala parades, protests by political parties and protests about local issues. The pattern was somewhat different for Irish Republican/Orange Order walks with less importance placed on freedom of speech and more importance placed on the risk of offending or upsetting people.

3.7 For most of the issues, respondents said that more importance should be placed on them when considering Irish Republican/Orange Order walks than other kinds of march. The opposite was the case for 'freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate' and whether the march was traditional ⁹, where respondents indicated that less importance should be placed on these considerations in relation to Irish Republican/Orange Order walks, compared with other types of march.

3.8 People in Lothian & Borders placed more importance than those in other areas on whether the march was traditional, damage to property, cost and the number of marches. Grampian respondents were also more concerned about cost in relation to protest by political parties and Strathclyde respondents were more concerned about costs in relation to Orange Order/Irish Republican walks.

3.9 In relation to Orange Order/Irish Republican walks, those brought up as Catholics placed more importance on disruption to traffic but placed no more importance than Protestants/Others on the risk of offending or upsetting people or whether the march was traditional.

3.10 The importance placed on freedom of speech did not differ by area, age, sex, religion or social class.

NOTIFICATION PERIOD

3.11 Respondents were told that, currently, anyone organising a march or parade is required to give the council and the police at least 7 days notice and that it has been suggested that they should be required to give 28 days notice. They were then asked whether they thought 28 days notice was 'too much', 'not enough' or 'about right'. Three-quarters (73%) thought it was 'about right', 16% thought it was 'too much' and 8% that it was 'not enough'. More people in the Northern Constabulary area and in Dumfries & Galloway thought it was 'too much' notice (32% and 25% respectively) although in both areas there was still a clear majority who thought 28 days was 'about right'.

3.12 Two-thirds (65%) of respondents thought exceptions to the notice period should be allowed in certain circumstances while a third (32%) did not. On this point, there were no differences by area, age, sex, religion or social class.

VIEWS ON WHO SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN DECISIONS

3.13 A majority of respondents were in favour of the police, the council and other emergency services being involved in decisions about marches (77% thought the police should be involved, 66% thought the council should be involved and 60% thought the other emergency services should be involved - see Figure 3.2 below). More respondents thought that local community groups, residents near the proposed route, businesses near the proposed route and places of worship near the proposed route, should be notified rather than actually involved in the decision. However, roughly a third in each case did think they should be involved. Few respondents thought any of the organisations/groups should not be notified.

Figure 3.2 Who should be involved in decisions about marches (% respondents)
Base: 676 (All respondents)

3.14 There were few regional differences in relation to this issue. People in Grampian were more likely to think the police (86%) and council (78%) should be involved (possibly because they were aware of the deliberations about the proposed march by a far right wing group referred to above, and knew that the council and the police were involved). People in the Northern Constabulary area were more likely to say businesses should not be notified (14% compared with 7% overall).

3.15 Those brought up as Catholics were more likely than Protestants to say that places of worship should be involved (43% compared with 25%).

PERSONAL NOTIFICATION

3.16 A significant minority of respondents (39%) said they would like to be notified of marches in their area. This is quite a high proportion and it should be noted that there may be a survey effect here - at the time they were asked, respondents had been thinking about marches and the various issues surrounding them, and may have felt more interest in receiving information than might normally be the case.

3.17 Those in social classes ABC1 were more likely to want to be notified (43% compared with 34% of those in classes C2DE) and those over 60 were less likely to want to be notified (29% compared with 43% in other age-groups).

3.18 Of those who wanted notification, the most popular method was by letter (47%), then newspaper advert (37%), then local radio (21%), then posters round the route (18%) ¹⁰. Only 3% wanted to get the information from the council website and only 2% wanted to receive an email. There were no significant differences by area, age, sex or social class with regard to methods of notification.

COSTS

3.19 Respondents were asked whether they thought march organisers should contribute towards the various costs associated with marches. Again, they were asked their views in relation to 4 different kinds of march: 'a local gala day parade with floats'; 'a demonstration by a political party or protest group such as a Trade Union, the National Front or the Countryside Alliance'; 'a demonstration, parade or march against a local hospital closure or another local issue'; and 'an Orange Order/Irish Republican walk'. The results are shown in Figure 3.3 below.

3.20 Respondents were evenly split on whether organisers of local gala parades and protests about local issues should pay for policing costs and local authority costs. However, in relation to the costs of repairing damage and the costs of insurance, a clear majority thought organisers of these types of parade should contribute.

3.21 In relation to political protests and Orange Order/Irish Republican walks, three-quarters or more of respondents thought organisers should contribute to each of the costs and almost all (90% and 93% respectively) thought they should contribute towards the costs of repairing damage.

3.22 Interestingly, however, when asked later in the survey how much they agreed with various statements, 22% of those who thought that organisers of political protests should pay for policing costs strongly agreed that 'Making marchers pay for policing costs limits freedom of speech' and 26% agreed a little.

3.23 Overall, more respondents in social classes C2DE than in classes ABC1 thought organisers should contribute towards policing and local authority costs.

3.24 There were no differences between those brought up in different religions in terms of whether organisers of Orange Order/Irish Republican walks should contribute to costs.

Figure 3.3 Whether march organisers should contribute to costs (% respondents saying 'yes' they should contribute)
Base: 676 (All respondents)

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

3.25 Respondents were given a number of statements and were asked to what extent they agreed with each. The results are shown in Table 3.2 below.

Table 3.2 Agreement with statements on general principles

Base: 676 (All respondents)

3.26 The responses highlight what is perhaps the key issue in relation to marches: how to balance freedom of speech with the need to protect the public and minimise the risk of violence. While three-quarters (76%) of people agree that 'Marches which are likely to inflame racial or religious tensions should not go ahead', a majority (65%) also think that 'Freedom of speech is more important than whether someone is angered or offended by a march'.

3.27 Half of respondents (49%) thought that, overall, marches and parades benefited their community. However, a similar proportion (46%) thought that, overall, they caused divisions.

3.28 In relation to these general principles, there were few differences by area, age, sex, social class or religion. Men were slightly more likely than women to agree that 'Freedom of speech is more important than whether someone is angered or offended by a march' (69% of men agreed compared with 62% of women). Those in Grampian were less likely than those in other areas to agree with this (55% in Grampian agreed compared with 65% overall).

3.29 Respondents in Strathclyde were more likely than respondents in Central, Dumfries and Galloway, Grampian and the Northern Constabulary area to think that 'Overall, marches and parades cause divisions in my local community' (51% of respondents in Strathclyde agreed compared with 41%, 32%, 35% and 36% respectively in each of the other areas).

SUMMARY

• Respondents thought that a wide range of issues should be taken into account when making decisions about marches.
• Overall, the most important considerations were the risk to public safety, freedom of speech and the right to demonstrate, the risk of serious damage to property, and the cost of policing and clearing up afterwards.
• Most people agreed that requiring march organisers to provide 28 days notice to the authorities was 'about right', but that exceptions should be allowed in certain circumstances.
• A majority thought that the council, the police and the other emergency services should be involved in decisions about marches. In general, the view was that that local community groups, residents, businesses and places of worship should be notified about marches in their area but not actually involved in decisions.
• Over a third of respondents said that they, personally, would like to be notified about marches in their area. Their preferred methods of notification were by letter or newspaper advert.
• Respondents were evenly split on whether organisers of local gala parades and protests about local issues should pay for policing costs and local authority costs. In relation to the costs of repairing damage and the costs of insurance, a clear majority thought organisers of these types of parade should contribute.
• In relation to both political protests and to Orange Order/Irish Republican walks, three-quarters or more of respondents thought organisers should contribute to policing, local authority and insurance costs, and almost all thought they should contribute towards the costs of repairing damage (90% thought organisers of political protests should contribute and 93% thought organisers of Orange Order/Irish Republican walks should contribute).
• Half of those who thought that organisers of political protests should pay for policing costs also agreed that 'Making marchers pay for policing costs limits freedom of speech'.
• While two-thirds think that 'Freedom of speech is more important than whether someone is angered or offended by a march', and three-quarters think that 'As a general rule, all marches should be allowed unless there is a serious risk to public safety', three-quarters also agree that 'Marches which are likely to inflame racial or religious tensions should not go ahead'.
• Half of respondents agreed that 'Overall, marches and parades benefit my local community' but almost as many felt that 'Overall, marches and parades cause divisions in my local community'.

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