Public Order Act, 1965

The Public Order Act, 1965 is the principal law regulating public order in Sierra Leone. It provides for the control of public processions, meetings and assemblies and creates offences aimed at preserving public order and peace.

The Act provides for the notification or licensing of public processions and assemblies, the powers of the police to regulate them, and offences such as riot, unlawful assembly and conduct likely to cause a breach of the peace. Historically it also contained criminal and seditious libel provisions (Part V), which were repealed in 2020. It remains important to the balance between public order and the rights to assembly and expression, and must now be read with the 2020 amendment.