Spontaneous protests will only be legal with 48 hours notice under North Carolina proposal

[turbinetree]

The next time residents of Durham County, North Carolina, feel the itch to spontaneously express political feelings on public grounds, they’d better hope somebody had the foresight to ask permission two days earlier.

The Durham County Commission opened the new year with a proposal to require 48 hours’ notice before any demonstration on County-owned land. “In order to ensure the safety of all involved in and near demonstrations on County grounds prior notification is required if the group will be 50 or more individuals or has the potential of 50 or more individuals,” the rules before the commission on Tuesday state. “If notification is not given within the stated requirements or if a spontaneous group exceeds 50 individuals, the County Manager or his/her designee may determine that those participating in the demonstration on County grounds are trespassing and may request that participants be removed by law enforcement.”


-snip-


Taken together, these various official actions and legal quests signify a dramatic shift in the traditional balance between basic civil rights and authority. The nation’s commitment to human rights recognized in both the U.S. Constitution and international law has rarely looked so shaky.

https://thinkprogress.org/durham-county-protest-restrictions-5dbb8de6b62a/

[RKP5637]

1. It gives me a very uncomfortable feeling. n/t

[turbinetree]

2. This chipping away......................is really not good...............

[RKP5637]

8. It's a combination of the "boiling frog" and the "Stock Syndrome." Actually rather

chilling!

[turbinetree]

9. Good analogy, I keep thinking of lemmings..............

[RKP5637]

11. Yep, many people don't seem to question things anymore, they often just follow. n/t

[gratuitous]

3. Wow, this is all the Durham County Commission has to worry about?

Durham County probably puts Shangri-la and Xanadu to shame with the absolute perfection and swankification of its society.

[turbinetree]

5. Yepper, spot on

to hell with education, roads, health care to fight back against bigots and such, lets just go after the Constitution...................amazing

[marble falls]

4. That law will fall if it even gets passed.

[brooklynite]

6. AG Josh Schneider will challenge it in Court.

[LenaBaby61]

7. Pretty soon, they'll be putting fourth legislation which restricts demonstrations/marches.

MANY of these bills are unconstitutional. However, with the courts being filled with lifetime appointments who are young and RWNJ's at a break-neck speed, how many of these types of bills WILL become law which will cut down on our right of protest?


Anti-protest bills would 'attack right to speak out' under Donald Trump.

The ACLU says more than 30 bills have been introduced amid a huge swell of activism, prompting UN intervention over criminalization of peaceful protest

Laws proposed in more than 20 states would variously increase the penalties for protesting in large groups.

More than 20 states have proposed bills that would crack down on protests and demonstrations since Donald Trump was elected, in a moved that UN experts have branded “incompatible with US obligations under international human rights law”.

The proposed laws would variously increase the penalties for protesting in large groups, ban protesters from wearing masks during demonstrations and, in some states, protect drivers from liability if they strike someone taking part in a protest.

I was arrested for protesting. My idealism did not prepare me for that experience.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said more than 30 separate anti-protest bills have been introduced since 8 November in “an unprecedented level of hostility towards protesters in the 21st century”. Their introduction comes amid a huge increase in activism and engagement, much of it inspired by Trump’s election to the presidency.

The ACLU and the National Lawyers Guild have said many of the bills are likely unconstitutional. “The proposed bills have been especially pervasive in states where protests flourished recently,” said Vera Eidelman, who works in the ACLU’s speech, privacy and technology project.

“This flood of bills represents an unprecedented level of hostility towards protesters in the 21st century. And many of these bills attack the right to speak out precisely where the supreme court has historically held it to be the most robust: in public parks, streets and sidewalks.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/may/08/donald-trump-anti-protest-bills

[VOX]

10. Those Durham County folks need a crash-course on the First Amendment...

The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”