Direct action and the law

Direct action is not necessarily illegal, but often it is. Get a better understanding of where you might stand.

Direct action is an especially drastic form of protest. Sabotage, vandalism, sit-ins, occupations, blockades and pickets are all forms of direct action. Indeed, direct action is often more than a radical form of protest – it is often a deliberate statement of resistance against a policy, a law, or an authority.

Direct action is often perceived as inherently aggressive. While sometime direct action is violent, much direct action is non-violent and peaceful.

One of the most famous examples of this is Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Salt Satyagraha’ (‘satyagraha’ means non-violent protest). Under British colonial rule, a tax was imposed on the production of salt, which paid big dividends for traders of the British East India Company. Gandhi deliberately broke the salt laws in 1930 by producing salt without paying the tax. His symbolic direct action protest inspired similar ‘satyagrahas’ by millions of people across India. Gandhi was arrested for his direct action, which attracted worldwide media attention to the salt laws and the wider objectives of his direct action – Indian Independence. This campaign had a significant impact on changing attitudes towards British rule of India.

Much direct action breaks the law, it isn’t by definition illegal. Strikes for example, are a legal form of direct action.

The same laws discussed in Protest and the law are relevant in direct action. Additionally, depending on what the direct action involves, you may be subject to arrest and prosecution for:

Criminal damage

The law in relation to criminal damage in Northern Ireland is covered under the 1977 Criminal Damages (Northern Ireland) Order.

In relation to trespass, the new criminal trespass law, enacted under s128 of SOCPA, has made it illegal to trespass onto certain designated military and nuclear sites in Northern Ireland. There is a common law offence of trespass against property and a criminal law offence of trespass/harassment against the person, including assault.

The Protection from Harassment (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 makes it illegal to harass a person, which includes alarming the person or causing the person distress. For the purposes of this Order a “course of conduct” must involve conduct on at least two occasions and “conduct” includes speech. See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/nisi/1997/1180/article/2/made.

The concept of 'criminal damage' is provided for in the Criminal Damages Act 1971. This Act applies only to England and Wales.

Aggravated trespass

Assault

Burglary

Theft

Harassment

The laws relating to trespass and theft are different in Scotland. Despite the differences in legal definition, they remain potential reasons for your arrest and prosecution if you take part in direct action. In Scotland you might be subject to arrest and prosecution in relation to direct action for:

Trespass (the concept of 'aggravated trespass' does not exist)
Malicious mischief
Theft
Assault
Harassment

'Breach of the Peace' is the law most often invoked in relation to protest and direct action. Read this BBC article for some of the issues this legislation has posed for protestors.

The law relating to trespass in Scotland is covered in the Trespass (Scotland) Act 1865 as amended, including by the Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 and the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003. (It's worth noting that section 9 of Schedule 2, limits the extent of the scope of "trespassory assembly" under the Public Order Act 1986).

Malicious mischief is a common law offence relating to property. See the Police Information website for an explanation of malicious mischief, theft and assault, public order, vandalism and breach of the peace. Bear in mind that it is not fully up-to-date - for example there is no mention of the more recent parades legislation.

Here is the Activist Legal Project's advice on what you might be faced with after direct action, however as discussed in Lawful Excuse, those involved in direct action may in some circumstances be able to legally justify breaking the law.

And as discussed in the case study, you may also be sued for taking direct action.

Case study

In December 2008, more than 50 members of Plane Stupid held a sit-in protest on a taxiway at Stansted airport. The airport was bought to a standstill, and was closed for five hours. The protest caused significant delays to 52,000 passengers.

The protestors entered the airport by cutting through the perimeter fence and then chained themselves to fencing near the runway.

Subsequently, 22 Plane Stupid members were convicted of aggravated trespass, many of whom had to do between 50 and 90 hours of community service. The judge said that "Substantial loss was caused to the authorities that were carrying out lawful activities”.

Plane Stupid briefly faced the threat of legal action from Ryanair for £2m, based on loss of revenue and "reputational damage".

"It seems if Ryanair follows this through and wins, we'll be paying money to Michael O'Leary for decades, and all because we think our parents' generation failed us so we decided to actually do something about climate change."
Joe Ryle, a sixth-form student, who was one of the Plane Stupid protestors

“We went into it with our eyes open and we are ready to take the consequences."
Leo Murray, Plane Stupid spokesperson

(Ryanair decided not to take action against Plane Stupid on this matter).

Read this Evening Standard article for more information.