§ MR. MACDONALDI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the Metropolitan Police have instructions to regard all public meetings held at street corners and attended by more than 10 persons as obstructive of traffic; if not, could he state what are the exceptions and who decides what meetings are to be exceptions, and what Act of Parliament, if any, authorises these instructions?
§ MR. ASQUITHNo; the Metropolitan Police have no such instructions. No meeting is interfered with by the police unless it occasions serious obstruction to the traffic. Each meeting, therefore, is judged on its merits, and the question whether it occasions serious obstruction depends for an answer on a number of local circumstances, such as the area and position of the place where the meeting is held, the amount of traffic, and the like. I am not aware of any Act of Parliament that could authorise such instructions.
§ MR. MACDONALDDid not one of the Magistrates in a recent case hold that all street meetings were contrary to law if attended by more than 10 persons, whether obstructions were caused or not?
§ MR. ASQUITHIn reference to that dictum, it would be presumptuous in me to criticise the Magistrate's exposition of the law. In my opinion, however, the police ought not to interfere unless the meeting creates a serious obstruction to traffic.