FOI 540/25 Exposing Genitals for Protests

Date: 05/06/25

Enquiry Reference: FOI 540-25                                                                                

I write in connection with regards to your Freedom of Information request.  Below is your request and our response.

Please provide all Information and evidence demonstrating how your police force have balanced the right to 'protest' (whilst exposing genitals in public) with religious/cultural beliefs protected under the Equality Act 2010. 

For example, modesty is understood to be a core principle under Sharia law, and as such public displays of nudity are highly likely to cause outrage, considerable offence and may result in acts of violence.

Specifically what additional considerations/precautions have been made to facilitate these events by police forces operating within 'Sanctuary Cities' and 'Human Rights Cities'.

Please also include the following information:

How much has been spent on policing these events over the last 20 years - broken down per event, per year.

Please include if any specialist legal advice has been sought in relation to these events. If so, when and how much was spent on this advice.

Please include the guidance you are currently following for officers to facilitate/police these events.

Please include what your policy is in respect to men wearing face masks whilst exposing their genitals in sight of women and children.

Please include how many arrests, charges, cautions have been made in connection to these events.

Please include the number of incidents/complaints of anti-social behaviour, indecent exposure, public disorder etc (before, during or after the event).

Having made enquiries within the Force our answer on this occasion is no information held, we have not had any of the above protests in our area.

The Cleveland Police response to your request is unique and it should be noted that Police Forces do not use generic systems or identical procedures to capture and record data therefore responses from Cleveland Police should not be used as a comparison with any other force response you receive.

If you are not satisfied with this response or any actions taken in dealing with your request, you have the right to request an independent internal review of your case under our review procedure. The Freedom of Information Code of Practice (see below link) states that a request for internal review should be made within 20 working days of the date on this response or 40 working days if extenuating circumstances to account for the delay can be evidenced. Public authorities are not obliged to accept internal reviews after this date.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/freedom-of-information-code-of-practice

Yours sincerely

Information Rights Decision Maker