Protestors' Rights

aka Right To Protest

08/30/2012

SXSW

Two More Days to Vote for ACLU SXSW Panels!

By Ateqah Khaki at 1:22pm

The ACLU is hoping to be at South by SouthWest next March, and we need your help! We’ve submitted four panel pitches (one, two, three and four) for SXSW Interactive, and there are two days left for the public to vote for and comment on the topics we’ve proposed.

05/18/2012

Photographers' Rights

DOJ Defends Your Right to Record

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 3:24pm

We haven’t pulled punches in our criticism of the Holder Justice Department, so it’s especially important that we give credit where credit is due. In support of an important case brought by the ACLU of Maryland defending the right to record, the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division forcefully and unequivocally endorsed our view in an unusual (but welcome!) 11-page letter to the Baltimore Police Department.

05/01/2012

Cell Phones & Smartphones

Shutting Down Cell Service During Protests: The Constitutional Dimension

By Gabe Rottman, Legislative Counsel, ACLU Washington Legislative Office at 8:19am

The Bay Area Rapid Transit System (“BART,” for short) has a serious public relations problem. BART Police have been involved in three fatal shootings of BART passengers in the past three years, including the Oscar Grant incident in 2009, in which an unarmed African-American New Year’s Eve reveler was shot in the back while lying face-down on a BART platform by a white police officer who later testified that he meant to use his taser, not his pistol. The shooting, and the controversial verdict in the criminal trial of the BART police officer, spurred widespread protests.

09/22/2011

Protestors' Rights

Police Abuse in Puerto Rico: The Urgent Need for Real Change

By Ateqah Khaki at 4:46pm

Today, The New York Times ran letters from Luis Fortuño, Governor of Puerto Rico, and Rosie Pérez, actress and activist who was a part of an ACLU fact-finding mission on police abuses in Puerto Rico.

They were responding to this month's scathing Justice Department report finding widespread civil rights violations, corruption and illegal conduct at the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD), and a subsequent Times editorial.

09/18/2012

Occupy Movement

NYCLU Report from OWS Anniversary Protests

By Katherine Bromberg, Occupy Wall Street Coordinator, NYCLU at 5:43pm

Approximately 3,000 protesters from across the country amassed in New York City’s financial district to celebrate Occupy Wall Street’s one year anniversary. Refusing to be deterred by the barricades and checkpoints that precluded them from entering the area by the New York Stock Exchange, protesters broke into numerous roving marches, chanting, singing and throwing confetti. The NYPD’s response to many of these marches was more tempered than previously observed in other Occupy protests, and a fair number of arrests were the result of civil disobedience.

03/21/2012

Protestors' Rights

In Court Today: Protecting the Right to Protest the President

By Kate Wood, Fellow, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 10:25am

People who disagree with the president have as much a right to be heard as those who wish to praise him. Today at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, the ACLU will be defending the free speech rights of presidential protestors who were discriminated against solely for the messages on their signs.

03/06/2012

Protestors' Rights

Shot in the Face: Pepper-Sprayed U.C. Davis Students Tell Their Story

By Rebecca Farmer, ACLU of Northern California at 6:43pm

The ACLU of Northern California is representing students and alumni in a lawsuit against U.C. Davis and individual police officers.

10/07/2011

Protestors' Rights

Protecting Protest at Occupy Wall Street

By Donna Lieberman, New York Civil Liberties Union at 12:09pm

As the Occupy Wall Street movement gains steam, the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is standing beside the demonstrators and defending their right to speak their minds.

Teams of NYCLU staff and volunteers regularly visit the movement's headquarters at Zuccotti Park to distribute our Know Your Rights information and engage the demonstrators' on their experiences with the NYPD. The park's makeshift library is well-stocked with our Demonstrating in New York City and What to Do if You're Stopped by the Police guides. We're engaging the protestors on Facebook and Twitter as well.

09/26/2011

Protestors' Rights

NYCLU on the Scene at Wall Street Protests

By Jennifer Carnig, New York Civil Liberties Union at 5:49pm

Inspired by the Arab Spring, a group of a few hundred protesters have occupied a park right off of Wall Street for more than a week, seeking attention for what they call a greedy and unjust financial system. The staff of the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) has been on the scene talking to protesters, learning about their experiences with police, and passing out Know Your Rights guides on protesting in New York City and on surviving police encounters.

09/17/2012

Police Surveillance

New Public Safety Broadband Network: Tool For A Domestic Secret Police?

By Jay Stanley, Senior Policy Analyst, ACLU Speech, Privacy and Technology Project at 6:19pm

Police in Tampa used smartphones and tablets to spy on protesters at the Republican National Convention, according to a report today from the National Journal.

Smartphones have proven to be an excellent tool for empowering individuals faced with sometimes unprofessional or abusive law enforcement officers, thanks to their built-in cameras and the constitutional right to record the police. But they also allow the police, according to the article, to blend in and transmit live video of protesters:

American Civil Liberties Union