70. The right to freedom of assembly extends to peaceful assembly. An assembly should be deemed peaceful if its organizers have expressed peaceful intentions, and if the conduct of the assembly participants is generally peaceful. a. ‘Peaceful’ shall be interpreted to include conduct that annoys or gives offence as well as conduct that temporarily hinders, impedes or obstructs the activities of third parties. b. Isolated acts of violence do not render an assembly as a whole non-peaceful. II. Notification Regime 71. Participating in and organizing assemblies is a right and not a privilege, and thus its exercise does not require the authorization of the state. A system of prior notification may be put in place to allow states to facilitate the exercise of this right and to take the necessary measures to protect public safety and rights of other citizens.50 a. A notification regime requires that the presumption is always in favor of holding assemblies, and that assemblies not be automatically penalized, through dispersal or sanction, due to failure to notify, subject to the provisions further detailed below. b. Lack of notification shall not be understood to make an assembly illegal. 72. Notification procedures shall be nonburdensome. a. A notification regime shall not stipulate that notifications be required too far in advance; rather, any notice period shall be as short as possible. Notification may be sought far enough in advance for an exchange of views as to any possible conditions, and for the relevant authorities to prepare.51 b. An appropriately simple procedure would involve the filling in of a clear and concise form, available and submittable online and elsewhere, requesting information as to the date, time, location and/or itinerary of the assembly, and the name, address and contact details of principle organizer(s). 50 See also Inspector-General of Police v. All Nigeria Peoples Party and others, Nigeria Court of Appeal (2007), paras. 16, 23, 25; New Patriotic Party v. Inspector General of Police, Ghana Supreme Court (2000), paras. 26, 3839, 48, 54-5; Amnesty International and Others v. Sudan, Comm. Nos. 48/90, 50/91, 52/91 and 89/93 (1999), paras. 81-82 (the Commission here observes moreover that the right to freedom of assembly derives in practice form the right to association; the opposite is clearly the case as well). 51 In particular, the notice period shall not be more than 5 days; ideally, 48 hours. 24 |  African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights