Image credit: JRS Knowhow and the Noun Project
Page contents:
- Who is this guide for?
- What does it cover?
- Why did we create the guide?
- Who created the guide?
- How did we make the guide?
- How will it be updated?
- A legal disclaimer
Who is this guide for?
The guide is designed for everyone in Scotland. Whether you are based in Scotland, new to Scotland or visiting Scotland. Whether you have citizenship, temporary or permanent residency status or are seeking sanctuary in Scotland.
What does it cover?
This guide explains what your legal right to protest in Scotland means. It explains what your human right to freedom of assembly and association is. It covers Scots Law and applies to protests held in Scotland.
Sections of the guide include:
Why did we create the guide?
Our aim is to provide legally accurate and clear information about your right. Legal information can often be complicated and unfamiliar if you don’t have a law degree. We believe that knowledge is power.
The guide is Scotland specific because the legal context is different compared to England and Wales or Northern Ireland. The materials explain whether the right to protest and consequences of protesting are different in Scotland.
Who created the guide?
The guide was collaboratively created by the charity Amnesty International Scotland team (SC039534) and the social enterprise JRS Knowhow (SC689503). We are grateful to collaborators and colleagues who worked with us to scope, test and review the guide. The guide was fact checked by a specialist solicitor Aamer Anwar & Co with expertise in Scots protest law.
How did we make the guide?
The materials were designed in response to your questions. We ran a consultation in early 2022 and spoke to people about what they thought a guide should cover.
We collected your suggestions about the scope, jargon to explain and the type of resource that you would find helpful. You asked for a website with downloadable documents. So here it is!
We didn’t want to duplicate existing resources. We did extensive research into existing materials and resources. This guide adapts the Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland’s 2021 guide to the right to protest (PDF).
The materials were drafted and reviewed by a content testing group. We are very grateful to our collaborators for their inputs and comments.
How will it be updated?
The guide will be updated if the law changes. Each page contains a date stamp to let you know when it was last updated.
This is a pilot guide. We hope to add to the materials with case studies and multimedia examples over time. We also have the option to turn the materials into an interactive, e-learning module.
We welcome your feedback, comments and suggestions to help us improve the guide in future. We also welcome requests to collaborate and share resources.
Legal disclaimer
The information contained in the guide is public legal education. It is not specific or individualised legal advice. If you need legal advice, please see the section about finding legal advice.
