On 8 August 2020, the Attorney-General successfully sought a mandatory injunction (court order) in the Supreme Court to prevent a planned sit-in protest organised by a group that advocates for the rights of refugees. The protest was to take place on the Story Bridge, a major traffic route in Brisbane, and be a ‘sit-down and not-move-on assembly’ during which arrests would be expected.
Read MoreIn this landmark decision, the High Court upheld the constitutional validity of safe access zone laws in Victoria and Tasmania, in particular, provisions that prohibit certain communications and protests about abortion within 150 metres of abortion clinics.
Read MoreThe European Court of Human Rights has found that Russia breached human rights conventions in the prosecution and imprisonment of feminist protest band Pussy Riot.
Read MoreThe European Court of Human Rights has considered two cases in which it held that the relevant State party had interfered with the right to freedom of peaceful assembly in art 11 of the European Convention of Human Rights. That right is protected by s 16(1) of the Victorian Charter. In both cases, domestic law required that the authorities be informed in advance of any planned public assembly.
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