Violent Crime Reduction Bill

moved Amendment No. 54A: Before Clause 55, insert the following new clause- ““OFFENCE OF WEARING MASK ETC. (1) Any person who without lawful authority or reasonable excuse, the proof whereof shall lie on him or her, shall at any public assembly, public procession, public rally or public meeting or any sporting event or entertainment- (a) wear any mask, cowl or disguise or otherwise conceal his features, or (b) carry or possess any mask, shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable- (i) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months, or a fine not exceeding £500, or both; (ii) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 4 years, or a fine, or both. (2) The wearing of- (a) facial make-up or colours at any sporting event, (b) facial make-up, colours or a mask at any carnival or fancy dress function or other similar entertainment, or (c) the wearing of veils, hijabs, burkas or niqabs by females for religious reasons, shall not be an offence under this section. (3) A balaclava, helmet, ski mask or similar item of clothing or motor cycle helmet shall be deemed to be a mask or disguise for the purposes of subsection (1)(a) and (b) if the court (or jury) is satisfied that it was intended to be used as such. (4) The wearing or carrying in the course of his duties of any item of protective clothing by any police officer or member of the security or emergency services shall be deemed to be with lawful authority. (5) For the purposes of this section- (a) a ““public procession”” and ““public assembly”” shall have the same meaning as in section 16 of the Public Order Act 1986 (c. 64) (interpretation), (b) a ““public meeting”” means a meeting held in a public place as defined in section 16 of the Public Order Act 1986. (6) This section shall not extend to Northern Ireland.”” The noble Baroness said: My Lords, about a fortnight ago, I was telephoned by my noble friend Lady Miller of Hendon who described to me in great detail the content of this amendment. She also told me that there was a problem in her family and that she might not be able to speak to it. Sadly, her mother died last Thursday night, so she is in a period of mourning and has asked me to move this amendment, which I gladly do. I know that I will not be able to move it in as good a manner as Lady Miller, but I shall do my best. The purpose of this amendment is to make it an offence to wear or carry a mask at any public assembly, procession, rally or meeting, with certain defined exceptions. Before I explain the simple but detailed provisions of this amendment, I would like to remind your Lordships of the historical background. In the distant past, even when a public protest degenerated and violence occurred, the precipitators, including the leaders, did not hide their faces. I remember seeing reruns of the newsreels of the anti-fascist riots in the East End of London in the late 1930s in which every face was clearly visible. If we fast-forward 50 years to the 1980s, the Grunwick dispute generated a fair amount of intimidating behaviour, but the faces in the newsreels were clearly visible. During the coalminers’ strike, which was particularly violent, the faces of the leaders and the men involved were clearly visible. Indeed, Arthur Scargill, the miners’ leader, complained that the police singled him out and hit him over the head with a riot shield. However, in the 1980s, there was a significant change of behaviour at protests. I think it goes back to the poll tax protests. I have a recollection of a picture of a masked protestor heaving a scaffold pole through the window of a parked car. At riots in the north of England in the early 2000s, masked rioters were a feature. We have now seen them at anti-war demonstrations, animal rights protests, including the violent campaign against Huntingdon Life Sciences, anti-globalisation demonstrations, anti-hunting and pro-hunting protests and at protests about the Danish cartoons and the Pope’s recent comments about Islam. That incomplete list of events is not confined to any one group or political outlook. Each of these demonstrations generating different degrees of violence featured some participants whose faces were hidden. In some cases, the apparent ringleaders could be seen speaking into walkie-talkies or on mobile phones, presumably giving instructions to their troops. Quite often, the organisers of the event would complain that their peaceful protest had been hijacked by outsiders bent on trouble—the usual suspects from rent-a-mob and agit-prop. I have newspaper photographs of masked rioters who broke into the Foreign Office in 1997. On 14 April 1997, the Daily Telegraph reported that the organisers complained that: "““The protest march was hijacked by anarchists and left-wing hooligans””." On 15 December 1997, the Daily Mail captioned a photograph: "““Hooded mob strike with iron bars and baseball bats””." Not only is any violence in any circumstances in a public protest totally unacceptable, it is improper that the police should be unable to identify the perpetrators to enable them to be arrested there and then or, perhaps, at a later time when tempers have cooled. A rather futile attempt to solve the problem of masked rioters was made in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, which gave the police power to require a person to remove any item which the officer was satisfied was being worn wholly or mainly to conceal the wearer’s identity. I say that that attempt was rather futile because in the riot in the City of London on 18 June 1999, damage worth some£2 million was done, some by persons who had been given £30 each, free transport and packed lunches. According the written replies given to my noble friend Lady Miller by the late-lamented Lord Williams of Mostyn, despite the huge amount of criminality at that event, a mere seven items were seized by the police from individuals, none of whom was arrested. In fact, no arrests were made under the provisions of that Act at that event. I turn to the details of the amendment. Subsection (1) makes it an offence to wear or carry a mask or other form of disguise at any public assembly of various sorts. The mere carrying of a mask is an offence, because otherwise someone could simply whip it off and put it in his pocket as the police approached him. The wording of the subsection, including the penalties and the onus of proof, follows the wording of the Prevention of Crime Act 1953 and various subsequent offensive weapons Acts that have been on the statute book for more than 50 years, which the police regard as an effective tool not only for charging wrongdoers but for heading off crimes before they happen. Subsection (2) provides for what may be regarded as necessary exceptions to the strict rule: the practice of sports fans painting their faces with their team colours; masks worn at carnivals or fancy dress events; and veils and similar garments worn by women for religious reasons. Subsection (1) also provides for a person to establish that he or she has a reasonable excuse. Perhaps a person has some facial disfigurement or is shielding him or herself from the weather. Those are all possibilities, but those issues could be decided by the courts. Whether sunglasses are a disguise is also a fact to be decided by the court. That may not be too difficult if the alleged offence occurred on a dull winter day, but I am aware that the fashionistas believe that shades, as they are called, are hugely attractive and appealing and wear them even on the darkest nights. At the risk of incurring the wrath of my friends, I believe that the same applies to hoodies. That gave the Government some difficulty when Earl Carnarvon—again, late and lamented—raised an amendment to the Crime and Disorder Bill in 1998 with similar intent. The new clause provides that balaclava helmets, ski masks and motor cycle helmets worn by pedestrians, which are the disguises of choice of rioters, shall be regarded as disguises if the court or jury concludes that that is why they were being worn or carried. The police and security forces are exempted from the operation of the new clause in the same way as they are exempted in the various offensive weapons Acts. Subsection (5) defines public processions, public assemblies and public meetings in the terms of the established definitions in the Public Order Act 1986. In accordance with the precedents of similar Acts, the amendment does not apply to Northern Ireland, which already has its own legislation on the subject. In the debate on Lord Carnarvon’s amendment in Committee on 31 March 1998, Lord Williams of Mostyn said that the government were ““warming”” to the idea. Eight years on, the time has come to do something practical about it. If he was warming to the idea then, I am sure that he would have been fully supportive now. The amendment does not in any way inhibit the right to hold a peaceful—I stress the word peaceful—protest, rally or procession. That is a right that we all support, even when we fundamentally do not support its objectives. The amendment places an effective weapon in the hands of the police that will severely discourage ill-disposed persons from mischief. If it does not, it will enable the police to arrest them on the spot and charge them with a substantive offence. I beg to move.