Know your rights: Kettles and facial recognition

The last year has seen mass protests returning to UK streets. The Extinction Rebellion protests against climate change and environmental destruction, and recent protests against racism and police oppression led by Black Lives Matter and other groups have received considerable media attention and, at times, severe responses from the police.

This webinar considered two particular issues that have arisen during these and other protests: the use of kettling as a public order and evidence gathering tactic, and the use of facial recognition technology. We discussed the reliability and accountability of facial recognition technology, the extent of police powers to deploy such tactics and individual rights of protesters to oppose them.

This webinar was part of a series of webinars on protest law. See here.

Recording

Please see a recording of the webinar below.

About the Speakers:

Maya Sikand, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Call: 1997) (Chair)
Maya Sikand heads up Chambers' Civil Liberties and Human Rights Team. Maya is ranked in Tier 1 for Civil Liberties in the Legal 500 and ranked in Band 1 for Police Law in Chambers & Partners. She was shortlisted for Civil Liberties and Human Rights Junior of the Year by Legal 500 UK Awards 2020, and Public Law Junior of the Year by Legal 500 UK Awards 2018. She regularly advises and appears in relation to civil damages claims against the police and public authorities, such as the Home Office and the prison service/Ministry of Justice (as well as G4S, Serco and Sodexo), in relation to all torts, as well as HRA 1998 claims. Maya was appointed a Recorder (in Crime) in April 2018.

Louise Hooper, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Call: 1997)
Louise Hooper a human rights barrister specialising in migration, women’s rights and discrimination based on race, gender and sexuality. Whilst waiting to catch a satellite space launch on sabbatical in South America Louise learnt the basics of programming. Her current interests relate to whether or not algorithms can ever be ‘fair’ and the consequences of AI for public and private decision making. Louise recently spoke on the human rights implications of global deployment of public health technology at the African Legal Network international webinar ‘Data Surveillance Viral Pandemics’ and on the subject of accountability and AI at CogX.

Michael Goold, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Call: 2010)
Michael Goold is a criminal defence barrister with particular expertise in public order law and police powers. He has defended in cases arising from many high profile protests over the last 10 years including Extinction Rebellion, Cops off Campus and anti-fracking campaigns. He has practical experience of protests and public order policing from acting as a legal observer at demonstrations.

Danielle Manson, Barrister, Garden Court Chambers (Call: 2016)
Danielle Manson joined chambers in March 2020 and has extensive experience of representing those charged with criminal offences arising out of protests, including but not limited to the Extinction Rebellion ‘uprisings' and the ‘Stop the Arms Fair’ campaign. Danielle is also a committee member of the newly formed grassroots organisation ‘Black Protest Legal Support’ (‘BPLS’) which was formed in the wake of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ (‘BLM’) movement following the death of George Floyd and has been responsible for training and co-ordinating over 100 barristers and solicitors as Legal Observers. Danielle also recently featured in a piece for British Vogue which outlined legal rights whilst protesting.

Webinars in this series:

Protest, Pandemic and Proportionality (held on 16 June 2020)
Justification Defences: Direct action and freedom of expression (30 June 2020)
Trial Issues in Protest Cases (7 July 2020)
Protest Injunctions and Contempt of Court (14 July 2020)