Occupy Wall Street Banned From Democratic National Convention

[frazzled]

79. Every Democratic Convention in recent history has restricted protesters

So this is not just about OWS.

Okay, I was living in Boston in 2004, so I remember this (as well as the snipers that I saw on all the rooftops for blocks around the convention hall):

Protesters at this summer's Democratic National Convention in Boston may be confined to a cozy triangle of land off Haymarket Square, blocked off from the FleetCenter and convention delegates by a maze of Central Artery service roads, MBTA train tracks, and a temporary parking lot holding scores of buses and media trucks.

Under a preliminary plan floated by convention organizers, the "free-speech zone" would be a small plot bounded by Green Line tracks and North Washington Street, in an area that until recently was given over to the elevated artery. The zone would hold as few as 400 of the several thousand protesters who are expected in Boston in late July.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/02/20/convention_plan_puts_protesters_blocks_away/

Denver? Voila:

The fence around the public demonstration zone outside the Democratic National Convention will be chicken wire or chain link, authorities revealed in U.S. District Court today.
That may allow protestors to be seen and heard by delegates going in and out of the Pepsi Center during the convention.
But the American Civil Liberties Union and several advocacy groups have filed an amended complaint to their lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service and the city and county of Denver that says protestors and demonstrators may have their First Amendment rights violated by security restrictions.
The ACLU has said it wants to avoid the conditions that existed during the 2004 convention in Boston, where protesters were caged, infuriating First Amendment advocates.

Read more: DNC protests will be behind fence - The Denver Post http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_9744092#ixzz1gH3aMrgi
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As for the city restricting camping, I'm getting a little tired of hearing supposed progressives equating their right to free speech with a right to camp overnight. I mean, that's as ridiculous as the Supreme Court resolutions that we've opposed over the years that equate free speech with money.

Protest as much as is needed between the hours of, say 7 am and 11 pm, but camping overnight in public spaces without permits is not a god-given right. Just as anti-abortion activists are (rightly) not allowed to protest within a certain distance of clinics, I think it's reasonable for cities to determine whether OWS activists should be allowed to gather (and cook and sleep and, god forbid, drum) at certain times of night. And, oh yeah, you're not being discriminated against if you have to get a permit to protest somewhere ... just like people who want to have a group picnic for their organization in a park have to get a permit.