Accord reached on July protests (Boston Convention)

[MaineDem]

The city of Boston has agreed to speed up its consideration of protest permits for the Democratic National Convention, as part of a legal settlement reached yesterday with a coalition of antiabortion groups.

Under the settlement, protest permits will be processed within 15 days, instead of the open-ended time frame in the city's original guidelines that could have meant that protest groups would wait a month or more for approvals. The city also agreed to allow all groups of 20 or fewer to protest without permits, as long as their demonstrations don't interfere with pedestrian or vehicular traffic.

In addition, starting July 10, about two weeks before the convention, protest applications submitted to respond to suddenly emerging events will be processed within two business days.

...

Popular protest locations include City Hall Plaza, Boston Common, Copley Square, and sites in the vicinity of the FleetCenter, where the convention will be held. The faster processing of applications will ensure that more groups have their say during the convention, said Brian Chavez-Ochoa, a lawyer for the Christian Defense Coalition, the lead plaintiff in the federal lawsuit that led to the settlement.

http://www.boston.com/news/politics/conventions/articles/2004/06/02/accord_reached_on_july_protests/

[Cooley Hurd]

1. But, what about "first amendment zones" for THESE protestors?

Anti-abortion groups have been proven to be violent and dangerous - doesn't a close proximity to Kerry put his life in danger? And why are they "speeding up" the process for them, anyway???:grr:

[sniffa]

2. who wiLL protest?

swift boat vets against kerry?
freepers?
anarchists?
staff members of repubLican senators?

[DoYouEverWonder]

3. Hopefully Bloomberg will buy a clue from Boston

and follow suit. However, it seems that some of the folks in NYC want things to go out of control. Instead of letting protesters use Central Park which is far from the convention center, yet one of the few open spaces in NYC that can accommodate 100'000's of people, they are more concerned with making sure no one mess up their precious lawn in the Sheep Meadow.