The Supreme Administrative Court overturned the police’s decision to play FC Lahti’s match without an audience
FC Lahti appealed the decision made in November 2020, which was related to the police’s ability to maintain order. The Administrative Court overruled the appeal, but the Supreme Administrative Court decided otherwise.
FC Lahti has won the dispute over the incident where the police banned the audience from entering the match. In November 2020, the police department banned the admission of the public to the game, because the police would not have been able to maintain order on the day in question.
FC Lahti appealed the decision to the administrative court, which thought the police had the right to a ban. However, the Supreme Administrative Court has decided that the decisions of the police department and the administrative court must be overturned.
According to KHO, the police’s decision was based on the wrong article. According to Section 15 of the Assembly Act, the police have the right to prohibit the organization of public gatherings if order and safety cannot be maintained. However, the police department did not state in its decision that the match is prohibited based on the section in question, but the football match has been approved to be played.
Instead, the decision must be considered to be a matter of issuing the instructions and regulations referred to in Section 20 of the Assembly Act. As a result of these instructions and regulations, the organization of public events has been prohibited.
However, the police department does not have the right to prohibit the organization of a public event under Section 20 of the Assembly Act, so the police’s decision was against the law.