集會權利和抗疫

在Public assembly v health risks 及上訴得直兩篇, 我報導了上星期六紐省的Black Lives Matter集會遊行, 藉此比較維園六四未獲批准的集會兩者的衛生風險考慮。昨天上訴庭的判詞上載了, 我才清楚看到整件事的爭論點, 根本就不是在於健康風險。香港遊行集會要先向警方申請, 獲不反對通知及符合所訂條件才屬合法遊行集會, 不獲批准可按上訴機制提上訴。紐省也有類似的機制, 但具體執行方式有些不同, 但我不去考究細節。紐省遊行集會需7天前向警方提出申請, 若警方同意申請, 集會就屬於獲允許的(authorized), 獲允許的集會在進行時阻街阻馬路也不屬違法。當警方不允許的時候主辦集會者可向法庭上訴, 若法庭駁回上訴就不能再上訴的。但紐省上星期六的集會為何可以上訴到上訴庭呢? 原因是上訴並不涉及集會與疫情之間的取捨, 而是其他技術上考慮:

The Court held (Bathurst CJ, Bell P and Leeming JA), allowing the appeal:

(1) The primary judge erred in concluding that the Appellant had not given notice on 29 May 2020 under section 23(1) of the Summary Offences Act in relation to the public assembly to be held on 6 June 2020.

(2) The primary judge erred in holding that the amendment of the notice on 4 June 2020 had the effect that a new notice had been given.

(3) The primary judge erred in not granting the declaration sought to the effect that the Commissioner had notified the Appellant that the Commissioner did not oppose the holding of a public assembly as described in the notice amended on 4 June 2020.

(4) Observations by the Court on the operation of Part 4 of the Summary Offences Act.Raul Bassi v Commissioner of Police (NSW) [2020] NSWCA 109 (9 June 2020)

讓我交待幾句背景 。

組織BLM集會的人按紐省法例在集會7天前入表向警方申請, 原本擬定參加人數為50人, 後來表示會參與的人越來越多, 申請人與警方商討時表示會修改參加人數, 在互相書信紀錄看顯示警方同意修改申請的, 但上周五紐省政府卻入稟申請禁制遊行令, 原審法官把修改了的遊行申請視為新的申請, 新的申請就變成不符法例至少7天前提出的規定, 少於7天的申請不獲警方批准也可上訴由法官定奪, 本案原審法官就把這集會視為少於7天提出申請來決斷應否批准, 變成衡量集會權利和防疫的判決。原審法官因此

"...refused an oral application for authorisation on the basis that public health considerations associated with the COVID-19 pandemic outweighed the importance of orderly public protest."

上訴的爭論點卻是: 修改申請應否視為全新的申請, 而不用考慮集會權利的健康風險。上訴庭的講法:

Competing public interests of great importance were thus potentially engaged but, as we shall explain, the issues before this Court were very narrow. Our decision did not ultimately turn on a difficult weighing exercise that resolution of that competition would necessarily have required; rather, the appeal was allowed by reason of the operation of the provisions of the Summary Offences Act in the context of a notice of intention to hold a public assembly (the Notice of Intention) which had been given pursuant to that Act by Mr Bassi to the Commissioner on 29 May 2020.

上訴庭批准上訴後, 紐省政府立即表態, 表示修改法例, 在疫情下不再批准超過10人的集會, 我的理解是, 警方不再會同意大型集會, 再辦集會的申請人只可向高院上訴, 屆時就只有一項議題: 衡量集會權利和疫情風險。這裏沒有人講打壓, 跟香港情況很不一樣。