R.I. ACLU asks Cicilline to drop protester registration
12:20 PM Thu, Jun 11, 2009 | Permalink
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PROVIDENCE, RI. -- The Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union is calling on the city to abandon its efforts to have people and groups register if they want to picket at this weekend's U. S. Conference of Mayors. In a letter sent Thursday to Mayor David N. Cicilline, ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said the city "has no right to demand that individuals 'register" in order to exercise their fundamental right to protest." While the city, in fact, has said that there will be no penalty for protesters who fail to register and is asking people to register only to gauge potential crowd sizes, Brown said the protester registration form on the city's Web site could have a "potential chilling effect" on people who do not know it is only a request. "Thus, individuals viewing the form and not wishing to share their name or other personal information with the city as a condition of petitioning their government could easily be deterred from exercising their First Amendment rights this weekend," Brown wrote in his letter. 
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I didn't realize the first amendment granted anonymity too. Imagine that. Either stand up and be counted or sit down. Don't cower behind a crowd.
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This is one time I find myself agreeing with the ACLU. There may not be much left that made America great, but the right to assemble and free speech are definintely one of them.
Even the most blind person can see right through this ssham of a tactic, aimed at protesting firefighters. Mayor Cicilline, a supposed progressive and libertarian, should be ashamed.
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It is important that people do not need to register to stage a protest. It absolutely has a chilling effect on people. This is the real world people... what would they do with this list or "registered" protesters? Would there be some backlash from the mayors office for the people that register? This is a ridiculous idea and I back the ACLU on this one all the way.
We need more rights... not less!
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I wonder if IAFF Local 1099 from Grand Forks, North Dakota as reported by the editorial staff of the PROJO will register in time since they are the cause of this mess in Providence. Hopefully, their mayor is more truthful than ours!
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noone said:
"I didn't realize the first amendment granted anonymity too. Imagine that. Either stand up and be counted or sit down. Don't cower behind a crowd."
Does anybody find this ironically funny that someone espousing this nonsense would prefer to comment anonymously? I agree that having to register has a chilling effect, although didn't the Supreme Court rule that you must identify yourself to police, so staying anonymous is relative. In this age of post 9/11 anybody can be labeled a terrorist threat so YMMV when you go out to "protest" or whatever the kids like to call it nowadays.
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I worry about the true reasons for not wanting people to register. Is Providence a city hiding felons and murderers who are taking part in union pickets?
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