UK Supreme Court Cases - Hicks and Ors

By Ben Jenkins

Anti-royal protestors, 2011. Picture Credit: The Guardian

Hicks and Ors v The Commissioner of the Metropolitan Polics

Before the Royal Wedding in April, 2011, many, peaceful, royalist protestors and even a zombieflash mob were arrested by the police under the pre-emptive suspicion of committinga crime during the Royal Wedding. The police were under the impression that a “known anarchist” was in the London vicinity, which probably enhanced the tension and fear of suspected terrorist attacks. It is obviously questionable that the police acted in this way as a method of "suppressing anti-monarchist sentiment" that was probably obstructing the momentous event that was the Royal Wedding, a source of renewal for national pride and the day where the media from all across the globe would be entirely focused on Britain. This case is a clear example of how someone’s Human Rights were breached, in this case, by the police. Those arrested by the police were stunned by such brutal action and sought a judicial review to look into and to shed light upon why they, peaceful protestors, were arrested without a crime taking place.

As stated in the title, the arrests were deemed to be legal by the high court, however Article 5 states that there must be an intention to bring those arrested to court, which the police admit to not having such an intention, further giving weight to the breach of their Human Rights. The impact of this entailed huge repercussions for any future national events, the Olympics later in 2012 for example, creating far more stringent regulations on the policing and the methods of arresting alleged criminals. The arrestees intend to take the case to the Supreme Court after their appeals were dismissed by the court, and many critics have observed with a more…clinical eye of the arrests and how they were in direct opposition to democracy itself due to the police heavily influencing their right to freedom of speech and freedom to protest peacefully. 

This case is beneficial to politics students as it highlights an example of how someone’s Human Rights can be violated and perhaps it also touches on police brutality to some extent and possibly using the Royal Wedding to enhance the severity of police power, but maybe not. Additionally it demonstrates how judicial reviews are used in real-life circumstances and gives an example of the need for a far more concise and detailed Human Rights Act or Bill of Rights? 

An essential topic for any politics student.