[Seattle-editorial] FP: ACLU takes Seattle to court over freedom to assemble

Tue Apr 20 12:55:38 PDT 2004

Eds.,

This is up our alley. Literally. can we do a major piece on this?

Joseph

Fwd: [snow] ACLU and O22 Coalition challenge march permit process as
unconstitutional

----- Forwarded message from Not In Our Name-Seattle
<seattle at notinourname.net> -----
    Date: Mon, 19 Apr 2004 19:11:06 -0700
    From: Not In Our Name-Seattle <seattle at notinourname.net>
Reply-To: Not In Our Name-Seattle <seattle at notinourname.net>
 Subject: [snow] ACLU and O22 Coalition challenge march permit
process as unconstitutional
      To: snow at lists.riseup.net

ACLU files lawsuit on behalf of October 22nd Coalition-Seattle

October 22nd Coalition supporters:

As readers of this list may know, Seattle's contribution to the 8th
annual National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality on October
22,
2003 was itself a victim of (mild) police repression. After our
rally at
South Seattle Community College's south plaza and with permit in
hand, we
were prevented from taking our march into the street by a few dozen
Seattle police officers on bicycles. The officer in charge said
that
because he believed we had fewer than 75 participants (we counted
at
least 83), we would have to march on the sidewalk (doing so does
not
require a permit). Informed that our permit did not specify a
minimum
number of participants to be valid, the officer said "we know;
we've
rescinded the permit." We continued our march on the sidewalk,
under
protest, and informed the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of
these
events afterward. The ACLU agreed to litigate our case for us, and
just
yesterday filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court challenging the
City of
Seattle's Parade and Special Events Ordinances. This is an
opportunity,
for every group that has grown tired/frustrated/angry over the
obstacles
the City of Seattle has put in their way for obtaining a permit, to
help
keep our supposedly sacred 1st Amendment free speech rights alive.
We
know many other groups who have been required to obtain insurance
(up to
$1 million in coverage!) for protected-speech events; although we
have
always claimed, and have been granted, a waiver of any needed
insurance
for our National Day of Protest, the City of Seattle's procedures
would
have allowed them to deny us a permit for failing to obtain
insurance.
This shows the arbitrary way in which the insurance "requirement"
has
been enforced by the City of Seattle. Please watch for more
information
on this case, as we may be asking for support on this issue some
time in
the near future. Below is the press release issued by the ACLU:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Doug Honig" <HONIG at aclu-wa.org>
Subject: ACLU Lawsuit Seeks To Protect Free Speech Rights of
Marchers
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:55:09

ACLU Press Release
Seattle, WA
April 14, 2004

Contact: Doug Honig, ACLU, 624-2184
Dan DiLeva, October 22 Coalition, 264-5527

ACLU Lawsuit Seeks To Protect Free Speech Rights of Marchers

Seeking to protect free speech rights on Seattle streets, the
American
Civil Liberties Union today filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court
in
Seattle challenging the City of Seattle's Parade and Special Events
Ordinances. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the October 22
Coalition,
a protest group officially granted a parade permit by the City who
was
nonetheless barred by the Seattle Police Department from marching on
the
street. The ACLU says Seattle's regulations are confusing,
burdensome,
and so vague that they wrongly give police unfettered discretion to
alter
or revoke parade permits.

"Marching in the streets is a traditional way for Americans to
express
their political views. Yet activists in Seattle have long
experienced
difficulty in seeking to hold peaceful marches. Too often, City
officials
have set up unreasonable obstacles when people try to obtain a
permit for
a march," said ACLU Legal Program Director Julya Hampton.

The lawsuit addresses longstanding problems that many activists
have
experienced in seeking to hold peaceful marches in Seattle. It
comes
after years of troubleshooting by the ACLU for groups encountering
difficulty with the City's permit process. Seattle uses three
separate
ordinances that apply to free speech activities in public places,
each of
which has its own standards and procedures for granting a permit.

"The ordinances have imprecise and unduly subjective terms that
make
seeking a permit very frustrating. Officials can deny a permit based
on a
number of broad factors that lack any objective criteria. Our goal
in
this lawsuit is to update Seattle's overly bureaucratic and
antiquated
permitting system for public demonstrations," said the ACLU's Julya
Hampton.

The October 22 Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression and
the
Criminalization of a Generation is a national organization that
seeks to
draw attention to issues related to police brutality by organizing
an
annual National Day of Protest. The Coalition has affiliates in 40
cities, all of which
coordinate marches and other demonstrations on October 22nd each
year.
The Seattle Coalition has organized an annual march and rally in
Seattle
since 1996.

In 2003 the Seattle Coalition obtained both a parade permit and a
special
events permit authorizing the group to march from Seattle Central
Community College to a rally at Hing Hay Park. The parade permit did
not
include a requirement that a minimum number of marchers participate
in
order for it to be valid. On the evening of October 22,
approximately
80-100 people gathered at the college to take part in the march and
rally. When the group moved into the street to begin its march, a
Seattle
police officer informed organizers that the parade permit had been
rescinded because they had too few people. The police officer
declined to
provide any documentation explaining when or why the permit had
been
rescinded.

Prevented from marching in the street, the participants were forced
to
proceed on the sidewalk and stop at all the intersections. As a
result,
the October 22 Coalition was unable to march as a cohesive body
since
many participants were cut off from the larger group at
intersection
lights, limiting the march's effectiveness. Throughout the march,
the
police occupied at least one lane of traffic, thereby closing off
the
very streets the marchers were not allowed to use. In addition, a
police
officer grabbed a sign from a marcher and confiscated it, and the
sign
was never returned.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction barring the City from violating the
rights of the October 22 Coalition. It also seeks a court ruling
that
Seattle's Parade and Special Events Ordinances are unconstitutional
because they allow city officials and police to place arbitrary
conditions on permits and to revoke them without notice.

ACLU cooperating attorneys Michael Ryan and Christopher Varas of
Preston
Gates & Ellis and ACLU staff attorney Aaron Caplan are
handling the case.
_______________________________
Not In Our Name Project-Seattle
seattle at notinourname.net
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http://www.notinourname-seattle.net
http://www.notinourname.net

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Joseph