Plan for Designated Protest Space on DC Mall Debated

[babylonsister]

Plan for Designated Protest Space on DC Mall Debated
by Michael E. Ruane


Washington - The National Park Service envisions a prime venue for demonstrations: a broad space at the foot of the Capitol with restrooms, seating, a paved surface, even a stand for the media.0121 05Lawyers for activist groups fear a designated, government-approved “pit,” limiting freedom of speech and movement in a hallowed place of protest.

The proposal to turn Union Square, the site of the Capitol reflecting pool and the Grant Memorial, into an urban civic square is one of many ideas the Park Service is mulling as it plans the future of the Mall.

But that and other suggested changes have sparked harsh debate between government officials seeking to preserve one of the country’s most heavily used national parks and activists concerned about limits on free speech and civil rights.

The face-off prompted tense exchanges at a public meeting this month as well as demands for the Park Service to halt its planning and seek broader public input.

“This is a sugar-coating effort to conceal the real plan, which is to reorganize the Mall from its traditional venue as the heart and soul of this country’s free-speech protest movement,” said Brian Becker, national coordinator of Answer, an antiwar coalition.

Susan Spain, project executive for the National Mall Plan, countered: “We are not seeking to restrict First Amendment demonstrations whatsoever.”

The Park Service requires permits for most demonstrations and has “reasonable time, place and manner restrictions” for them, she said. What is proposed is only a better place to protest, with more facilities, she said.

But lawyer Mara Verheyden-Hilliard of the Partnership for Civil Justice, which advocates for protest groups, noted that the Capitol might not always be the protesters’ target.

Demonstrators “also want to be able to protest as far back as they need and as wide as they need,” she said. “They have the right to . . . not be shunted off to a protest pit.”

more...

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/21/6518/

[Ganja Ninja]

1. And they could name it after MLK.

:eyes:

[msongs]

2. it's all about controlling the unwashed rabble citizens - they are so inconvenient nt

[NashVegas]

3. The Right to Peaceful Assembly

Is something the American People should never have budged a single freaking inch on. Not the labor unions, not the hippies, not the Freepers, either.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

8. The "freepers" started that war by asserting the 'danger of distraction',...

,...while spewing the most obnoxious hatred out the other side of their mouths.

The 'freepers' wanted prohibitions in practically ANY public ground stating, "it distracted" workers or drivers or school kids,...whom and whatever they could come up with.

It's the 'freepers' game' right now,...but, what happens when the ship heads toward the sunrise rather than the sunset? They'll be screaming and crying like two-year olds.

[NashVegas]

13. I Was Writing About Anti-Abortion Protesters

And "Free speech zones."

[gateley]

4. The picture that came to mind was of a glass cube Smoking Room in the Spokane

airport I saw years ago. Caged animals.

It's OUR fucking country - we can demonstrate wherever the fuck we want! :grr:

[babylonsister]

5. Yep, until it's deemed illegal. Seems like it might be headed that way. nt

[gateley]

6. This is not America.... nt

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

7. 5th Anniversary of my very 1st major anti-war protest in Seattle, WA.

I reflect on that day with enormous warmth and appreciation.

Immediately thereafter, every friggin' Republican nationwide proposed ANY restriction imaginable on 'free speech'.

So, this latest obstacle is not surprising.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

9. These additional limits on our freedom to express ourselves are getting LOST,...

,...among the riff-raff of crap having nothing to do with our IMMEDIATE NEED to express ourselves.

[SoCalDem]

10. This is what protest should look like (1969)

http://bp3.blogger.com/_LudJaqlGgFI/RuzPEuvvvgI/AAAAAAAAAnM/G1kuE_lxW_Y/s400/Washington+War+Moratorium+1969+Wh.jpg

http://bp2.blogger.com/_LudJaqlGgFI/RuzPievvviI/AAAAAAAAAnc/u5dLw6iico0/s400/Washington+War+Moratorium+1969.jpg

[babylonsister]

11. Wow! Wall to wall people! The good old days when the media

actually covered rallies like that.

[SoCalDem]

12. and not "penned in" or tasered.. n/t