Public Order Act 1936

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The Public Order Act 1936 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (citation 1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c. 6) passed to control extremist political movements in the 1930s such as the British Union of Fascists.

The Act banned the wearing of political uniforms in any public place or public meeting. It also required police consent for political marches to go ahead (now covered by the Public Order Act 1986).

The Act was used extensively against IRA and Sinn Féin demonstrations in the 1970s, though the act does not extend to Northern Ireland. In November 1974, 12 people were each fined the maximum £50 under the Act for wearing black berets at Speakers' Corner during a Sinn Féin anti-Internment rally.^[1]

The Act also prohibited organising, training or equipping an "association of persons ... for the purpose of enabling them to be employed in usurping the functions of the police or of the armed forces of the Crown," or "for the use or display of physical force in promoting any political object."

The act also affected peaceful organisations, such as the Kibbo Kift, a youth scouting movement.^{[citation needed]}