united-kingdom
Can I throw water on annoying people?
<p>Visiting Prague on a trip round Europe I vividly remember being warned that if our party were too noisy outside a residents window at night we might have eggs dropped on us. We certainly didn't make that mistake. </p>

<p>Now I live in a flat in a UK city, in a student area. It is not an uncommon occurrence for someone to stop and have a conversation outside my window in the wee hours. I have even been treated to drunken guitar renditions of pop songs, that where not that great to begin with. It's because there is a sheltered archway there, and so its a nice dry place to stop on the way home from a good night out. Most of the time, if asked to move on, people will oblige. If they are particularly drunk, however, they may decide that they would rather stay right outside my window. Furthermore, being drunk doesn't noticeably make them any quieter. </p>

<p>I could call the police (non-emergancy) at this point, this behaviour probably counts as "drunk and disorderly". But at 2 in the morning, I really just want to get back to sleep. The police probably have better things to do with their time as well. </p>

<p>So would there be legal ramifications to employing a water pistol in this situation? </p>

<p>First, there is the possibility that the person could respond with a <em>real</em> pistol - there would be legal ramifications there but unfortunately they would involve you as the victim.</p>

<p>What you are proposing is nominally assault, however, you are unlikely to be arrested for it.</p>

<p>A better option is to gently escalate the conflict by telling them you will call the police. If that doesn't work call the police and tell them that you have.</p>

<p>In terms of legal ramifications, throwing (or shooting) water onto someone is an assault.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>A person is guilty of common assault if they either inflict violence
on another person – however slight this might be – or make that person
think they are about to be attacked.</p>
<p>They do not have to be physically violent – for example, threatening
words or a raised fist could lead the victim to believe they are going
to be attacked – and that is enough for the crime to have been
committed. Other acts like spitting at someone may also classed as
common assault.</p>
<p><Sub><Sup><em><a href="https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/news/item/assault-offences-explained/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sentencing Council - Assault offences explained</a></em></Sub></Sup></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Not only is this <em>theoretically</em> the case, but people have been actively convicted (<a href="https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/local-news/michelle-dodd-water-neighbour-reddish-8486045" rel="nofollow noreferrer">1</a>, <a href="https://www.countytimes.co.uk/news/19471888.newtown-man-fined-throwing-water-police-officers/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">2</a>, <a href="https://www.herefordtimes.com/news/18890702.man-threw-bucket-water-neighbour-shed-dispute/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">3</a> etc) of doing basically what you're intending to do.</p>
<hr />
<p>For the record, throwing water at people could easily be mis-construed as an acid attack and the person in question would be well within their rights to use a proportionate amount of violence against you in self-defence, including punching you on your nose.</p>
