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When they're on Main Street, it's progress.  When we're on Main it's CRIMINAL   view full size

As usual, General Services police and LAPD combined forces to attempt to curtail our free speech rights and our right to public space.

No, we will not move to the "Protest Zone"

Very early in the day, organizers were told by General Services police that we would have to move to the "protest zone" across the street - they claimed they would produce a City Council motion stating that the South Lawn sidewalks would be closed to the public during the inauguration and that a protest zone had been created.

Our point organizers looked over towards the not-so-visible "protest zone" and decided we would not move to that corner but instead attempted to negotiate a different, closer location directly across the street from the South Lawn. We agreed to this negotiation on the condition that we would keep observers on the sidewalks surrounding the event and that we would consult with legal experts about whether we could legally be kept off our original space.

This is not legal

LACAN and BRU organizers gather with legal counsel to negotiate with the LAPD view full size

The police did produce a City Council motion eventually, but it only said that the sidewalks around City Hall would be closed to the public.  We pointed out that the sidewalks were actually NOT closed to the public since there were all kinds of people walking through and there was no real mechanism to check tickets.

After getting advice from some legal observers, organizers spoke with the Assistant Chief for Central Bureau who had recently arrived at the scene, highlighting the point that we were the only citizens who had been removed from the public sidewalk, which was not legal.  He agreed and asked us to wait 5 minutes to resolve the issue. 

Police in contradiction, argue with each other

It actually took about 20 minutes, since General Services police first claimed they were going to close the sidewalks entirely, which clearly was not possible with no barriers and limited personnel. The LAPD Assistant Chief was overheard arguing with General Services - stating that there were other citizens on the sidewalk and that we were documenting it. About 5 minutes later, we were told we could return to the sidewalks which were open to the public by both General Services and LAPD - the exact same officers who told us several times that we could not be there.

Lessons 

1. Gathering on the sidewalk  view full size

   Cops either don't know the law or lie, or both.
2. Organizers should not take the first, second or third opinion of police as fact - keep asking for supervisors, as high as we can get.
3. We should always have legal observers on-site or by phone for everything we do that may involve the police.
4. We don't need to give up access to public space or free speech opportunities without a fight.