Attorneys slam downtown mall pedestrian restrictions [Charlottesville]

[Yonnie3]

From C-Ville weekly

Attorneys slam downtown mall pedestrian restrictions

Lisa Provence
8/09/18 at 12:03 PM

At the August 6 City Council meeting, public safety officials outlined precautions for the upcoming August 12 anniversary, including street closures and the shutdown of public pools. It wasn’t until two days later that the city announced pedestrian access to the eight-block or so Downtown Mall would be limited to two entry points.

Civil rights attorney Jeff Fogel is calling that tactic “beyond the pale” in an email to city officials.

“You’ve had all these public meetings and you pull it out at 3 o’clock two days before [enacting the closures]?” says Fogel. “It could be litigated and that’s why they pulled it out then.”

Restricting mall access to two points on Water Street—First Street and Second Street SE—”implicates the constitutional right to travel as well as the right to peaceably assemble,” says Fogel.

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More at http://www.c-ville.com/attorney-slams-downtown-mall-pedestrian-restrictions

Personally, I think the City's plan is an overreaction.

They did too little a year ago and actually forced protestors and counter-protestors into each other and then were raked over the coals over this and other failings.

I think the Government's plans are as much to prevent any Anti-Facist or BLM demonstrations as to prevent anything else. I also think that they are worried that any White Supremacists that show up will be mobbed. With the more than 1,000 LEO that will be here they should be able to take care of any strife without such draconian measures. In essence they have closed the entire downtown mall area and several blocks north with no bus service, most parking banned, only two checkpoints to enter the mall, Pavilion events cancelled Friday and Saturday, streets between the park and the mall closed and only pedestrian entrance to the mall on the opposite side than the park.

I am not privy to any of the state's intelligence gathering, but there seems to be no organized plan for the White Supremacists to demonstrate this year.

[Yonnie3]

1. Statement from The Rutherford Institute Regarding Government Lockdown of Charlottesville

Statement from The Rutherford Institute Regarding Government Lockdown of Charlottesville in Advance of Aug. 12 Anniversary

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — While it is appropriate that the government and the public work together to ensure that the tragedies of August 12, 2017, are not repeated, locking down the community and enacting measures tantamount to martial law without any credible evidence warranting such extreme measures is not an acceptable solution.

In the absence of any publicized information about credible threats to public safety surrounding the upcoming one-year anniversary of the events of August 12, The Rutherford Institute has grave concerns about 1) the City of Charlottesville’s decision to enact severe lockdown security measures in advance of the upcoming one-year anniversary of the August 12 events, 2) the process that resulted in the adoption of such measures, and 3) the impact they will have on the civil liberties of the residents of the community.

These measures not only directly limit the public’s freedom, but do so indirectly by imposing a chilling effect upon civil liberties. Moreover, these draconian police state measures are presumptuous in their expectation of civil unrest, intentionally alarming, and utterly lacking in transparency.

A declared state of emergency: By declaring a “state of emergency” and enacting heightened security measures for August 10 through 12, without providing any specific information as to credible threats that might warrant such extreme actions, the City has cast a shroud around the area that makes it akin to a community under martial law.

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Read the rest at the webpage
https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/on_the_front_lines/statement_from_the_rutherford_institute_regarding_government_lockdown_of_charlottesville_in_advance_of_aug._12_anniversary

or download a PDF
https://www.rutherford.org/files_images/general/08-09-2018_Statement-on-Cville-Lockdown.pdf

[Duppers]

2. Thank you, Yonnie.