Street Demonstration or Legal Right to Protest
Street Demonstration or Legal Right to Protest: Fatemeh Mohajerani, the government spokesperson, recently responded to the question of whether the Ministry of Interior would allow the opponents of internet filtering to hold a demonstration, given that supporters are allowed to do so. She stated that the government is pursuing the matter as much as those who wish to demonstrate for lifting the filtering, and there is no need for protests or, in a way, street demonstrations, as we are addressing the people’s demands.
These statements shifted the focus beyond just filtering, raising the question of how officials view the holding of demonstrations. Looking back over the past decades, it can be seen that all governments, regardless of their political affiliation, have been reluctant to grant permission for legal demonstrations.
Perhaps the root of this approach to demonstrations lies in the security perspective of officials who believe that demonstrations could lead to security issues. In contrast, this perspective faces two legal and sociological issues.
The legal aspect of the issue refers back to Article 27 of the Constitution, which stipulates that holding gatherings and demonstrations without carrying weapons is free, provided they do not disrupt the foundations of Islam. This principle did not exist under the title of the right to demonstration in the Constitutional Law, and it was introduced in the Constitution with the establishment of the Islamic Republic. According to Article 21 of the Constitutional Amendment, only the right to form associations and gatherings without carrying weapons was considered unproblematic.
It is noteworthy that at the end of this principle in the Constitutional Law, holding gatherings was subject to police regulations, meaning that supplementary laws determined the conditions for holding gatherings. However, in Article 27 of the current Constitution, the right to demonstration is recognized without such a condition.
Based on this, some legal doctrines argue that holding demonstrations without carrying weapons and without disrupting the foundations of Islam is possible even without obtaining permission from the Ministry of Interior. However, aside from this opinion, the definite point is that holding demonstrations is an undeniable right for all people according to the Constitution.
From a jurisprudential perspective, some jurists, including Seyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, believe that the principle of demonstration is accepted based on the principle of freedom in Islam.
Shahroudi states in the first volume of the Jurisprudential Culture that people have the right to hold gatherings and meetings for consultation and exchange of views, and the Islamic government cannot prevent it unless it is harmful to the Islamic system and community.
With this in mind, it is very strange that the government spokesperson, as someone who should express the official positions of the government, uses the term ‘street demonstration’ for this important public right without considering the legal basis for holding demonstrations.
On the social aspect of the issue, it is worth mentioning that, according to some sociologists, public demonstrations on various issues can have two significant benefits. First, public demands are directly communicated to officials, and second, protests are expressed at different times to prevent the accumulation of public anger.
Accumulated social anger leads to social upheaval, which may result in security crises. Therefore, not allowing protests with the mindset that they will create security issues actually turns into the opposite of its intended goal. Perhaps one of the reasons for the occasional violent protests is the lack of opportunity for legal demonstrations on specific topics.
On the other hand, a specific mechanism from the Ministry of Interior also prevents the creation of security crises during demonstrations. If the organizer of the demonstration is specified and the specific topic of the demonstration is announced in advance, the organizers commit to adhering to regulations, and the Ministry of Interior, along with law enforcement, ensures the security of the demonstration.
Another point is that although the Ministry of Interior does not allow any group to hold demonstrations, in practice, a kind of discrimination is observed. Typically, certain political forces with a radical and ideological view of politics and society can hold demonstrations on various occasions, but parts of the social body are deprived of this right and may face restrictions if they attempt to hold demonstrations.
Specifically, on the issue of internet filtering, where there are two different perspectives, both groups could be allowed to hold demonstrations so that everyone can express their opinions in a fair context.
