Police powers and public assemblies

Learning from the Clapham Common ‘Vigil’ during the Covid-19 Pandemic 

The policing of peaceful public assembly during the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of the most central challenges to police legitimacy. This is arguably because mass gatherings are assumed to carry a high risk of contagion yet, at the same time, peaceful public assembly is a protected human right. In this article, we explore this issue by using a case study to provide a detailed chronological interactional analysis of the policing operation surrounding a highly controversial public assembly that took place on Clapham Common in March 2021 in London, England.

Read the full-text here.

Stott, C., Radburn, M., Pearson, G., Kyprianides, A., Harrison, M., & Rowlands, D. (2022). Police powers and public assemblies: learning from the Clapham Common ‘Vigil’during the Covid-19 pandemic. Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, 16(1), 73-94.

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