East SideFreedom to Assembly Under Threat
The freedom of people to peacefully assemble and speak their mind is one of America’s oldest and most cherished rights that is protected under the United States and New York State Constitutions. These rights allow the public to voice their opinion to other citizens and their government. Without it, public debate would be severely limited only to private conversations behind closed doors and would represent a loss to a democratic society.
New rules by the NYPD threaten our basic rights to free assembly in our great city. It would require the request and approval of a permit long in advance of any event with more than 20 cyclists in the street or 35 people on the sidewalk, even if they do not violate any traffic rule. Furthermore, the rule would allow the police to arrest any group of 2 or more people that break a traffic rule (like jaywalking) for “parading without a permit”. These rules would be an unacceptable imposition on our freedom to peacefully assemble for a cause and would allow the government through the police to limit speech that it does not like or does not agree with in a capricious and arbitrary manner.
A growing number of people are just becoming aware of these new rules. You can find out more about what you can do to prevent these rule from going into effect at Assemble for Rights NYC. Transportation Alternatives also has a nice page related to this issue.
