ABSTRACT
The Act gives the police power to regulate the movement of persons to a gathering. Where a direction has been made under section 63, the police may stop persons and order them not to proceed to the gathering. The exercise of this sweeping power is confined to an area within a five mile radius of the gathering.
The Act replaces a number of common law offences. The Law Commission considered, for example, that the offence of breach of the peace was too vague a concept and that it should be replaced with more specific offences. In its place, the concept of unlawful violence is used, which encompasses a number of situations. Violent conduct is defined as meaning any violent conduct, whether or not intended to cause injury or damage.42
