Citizens arrest of a Protestor/Activist?

This video does not encourage you to carry out a "citizens arrest", but it is general guidance of the applicable law. Protesters causing damage and or treating property as the owner may be liable to arrest and prosecution for both criminal damage and shoplifting.

Disclaimer: Neither this nor any other video, may be taken as legal advice. I accept no liability whatever for any reliance placed upon it, as there is no contract between us and I am not instructed by you.

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[Drew-Abbott]

As an ex doorman, reasonable force is a very, shall we say grey area

[gabbor]

And we are still surprised when we see people filming a crime instead of intervening.

[Faithinthedock]

I think the frustration for many is the perception that the Police will not respond or if they do so, a long time after the event, so we are, in the case of milk being spilt (literally) the value is low so we are in a very precarious situation if performing a "citizen arrest" but the sheer anger and frustration in then having to see these acts go seemingly unpunished. I think it can often appear that way.

[aesopstortoise]

What about the protesters blocking the road, while the police stand about watching behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace, and willful obstruction of free passage along the highway?

[Idlepit]

I'm So it is NOT reasonable to break their legs to prevent them running off?

[RussellHawkins]

After all the food tampering cases, didn't they pass a law about opening containers is shops etc?

[markm-cirj]

What is the law as to these protesters who block roads and moving them out of the way

[roberts]

When I was working in retail about 30 years ago, we had a customer who was a glue sniffer and was causing a disturbance. The manager asked him to leave and he started shouting and threatening the manager with a knife (if I remember correctly). The manager restrained him on the floor and 2 more of us had to help hold him down as he was high on glue. It took the police only 5 minutes to arrive.

Another time 2 guys came in and assaulted the security guard because a previous day he had stopped one of their gf's from shoplifting. I chased after them, stupidly, but they got away but I got their descriptions and colour of their car and number plate. The security guard had a concussion and a broken nose, he was off work for 3 days then came back.

Just to be clear I live in London, UK.

I have a few stories like that all from the same store.

[robc]

Oh the good old days before CCTV and phone cameras when you could have just given them a good hiding and then strolled off.

[ivanmayer]

It's the same in supermarkets. I remember when you were allowed to grab shop lifters by the scruff of the neck, and frog march them to the managers office. I recently worked for a well known supermarket chain, and at the interview stage, the manager told us that we weren't allowed to confront any shoplifter at any point, and we had to just let them walk away. I think maybe the supermarket was worried about getting sued if the employee got hurt.

[andyrobins]

What action can i take if i return to my SUV to find one of the "tyre deflater" protesters letting down my tyres because they believe we need to be inconvenienced. I believe its not classed as criminal damage as no actual damaged is caused. So what action can the police take if i call them, and what action "legally" can i take if i catch them.

[nihalperera]

This is something that would NOT be tolerated in my country. You would be taken, beaten and tied to a lamp post and put on social media and labelled by the citizens. The police won't intervene. I feel it is a good thing, because foolishness like this doesn't happen.

[Frag-ile]

I like how the law assumes the average person who it grants this power to could possibly make a snap judgment on whether or not an ongoing or potential act is an indictable offense or not. Or quickly assess the value of a thing that is about to be destroyed.

[brianlopez]

thanks for the advice BBB - Basically its far too complex to risk getting involved. Leave them too it. Bloody ridiculous.

[Spacey]

Take it from someone who's trained in this field that reasonable force is so difficult to prove as it's up to the judge/police as to what reasonable is!!

[dilltdog]

Sorry, but if they tried this spraying milk and destroying food in our local Aldi or similar they'd get more than arrested.
Our town is marked down as a deprived area with all the social problems that term implies.
I fear that rough justice would be swift and merciless.
I doubt anyone would perform a citizens arrest on those delivering that swift or brutal justice.

[CH-vbkr]

If protesters are emptying milk on the floor, isn't that THEFT if they refuse to pay for what they wasted?
Also, spilling something on the flaw creates a trip/slip hazard, which, if it isn't illegal itself, should open the person that created the trip/slip hazard to a nice private lawsuit for any injury/soiling the innocent suffer.

[archstanton]

Highway Protests - at what point can blocking the road be classed as the unlawful detention of motorists by protestors?

Recently BBB covered an interesting Ashley Neal video about the custodians of a former care home unlawfully detaining a Youtuber by blocking his car from leaving the property.

If you are a motorist trapped by (say) eco-protestors deliberately blocking the road (with no other lawful route to leave), at what stage are these protestors unlawfully detaining you (the motorist) because you are not free to leave /continue?

Do the rules of 'lawful excuse' for protesting negate your being detained?

If a motorist abandoned their car to leave (an unreasonable expectation) then a subsequent offence could be committed by virtue of the motorist's abandoned and now obstructive vehicle. Perhaps the motorist is conveying a mobility-impaired person who simply cannot 'walk-away'.

Furthermore, if this is unlawful detention then what reasonable steps (including physically moving protestors) can the motorist take in order to bring their detention to a close?
(Summoning Police assistance should be the first recourse).

Presumably this aspect has been studied at length by the Police?

[alanscott]

Would it be excessive force if you sprayed the demonstrators with tomato soup or orange paint?.

[dickygeemusic]

Could you not detain someone pouring milk in a supermarket on the grounds that it could cause injury via a slip hazard?