Have protesters always had to get a permit to protest?

Question

I just read and article about an anti-war protest in Washington DC that resulted in 160 arrests. In the article, it mentioned that ANSWER (The group holding the protest march) had estimated 10,000 protesters when it got he permit. Have protesters always had to get a permit to hold a protest? Can these permit applications be denied? How does that jive with the Constitutional right to protest?

If comeone can please explain this to me, that would be great.

Answer 1

Cinn,

Otherwise it would be an illegal gathering (storming a building, seizing people, etc.).  Ten people become 200 and then you have a mob.  And they usually don't think straight.  (We're a republic in form of government, not a straight-up democracy).  Should gatherings happen everywhere? I sure don't want strangers gathering on my lawn or impinging MY right to ignore their cause.

It worked especially as a way to curtail the '60's style protests and sit-ins, as there were consequences to their actions.

It also tends to make the proceedings a bit strange. I was working in Brooklyn after the Abner Loiuma incident and there was a Reverend Al protest against the police. So the police barricaded the street  and stood at attention and the protesters marched up the street, protesting the police, holding signs calling for the death of cops and toy pigs in police uniform. It was very surreal.

Answer 2

No, back in the dark ages we did not need a permit to protest-----oH!!!!! we are still in the dark ages, now it's called the age of the Liberals.

Answer 3

Different laws in different locations, and different rules based on the situation. In DC, a permit has been required since the 1960s and gatherings that disrupted traffic and commerce, interfering with the rights of others. Your rights stop where other people's rights start.

Answer 4

Normally protesters get a permit so the police know to be there.  Unlike popular belief most protest leaders want the police to be there.  If their crowd gets out of control storms buildings, burns cars, becomes a mob their message is lost and the story is not about leaving Iraq, but mob attacks D.C.  With a police presence from the start the odds of a peaceful protest becoming a mob drops dramatically.  It also helps so traffic is rerouted, the police can shut down roads for them.  Once again the last thing a protest leader want is for a truck to hit one of his people.  

Another thing most people do not think about is the logistics of a protest.  10,000 people can not be asked to hold it for several hours, they will have to go to the bathroom sometime.  Look at pictures of protest good or go to one, do you see the port-a-johns.  Where do you think they came from?  You need a permit to set them up.

A small group of protester that are only planning to do it for a few hours does not really need one, it is the large protests that need to be taken care of.

Answer 5

This is a question that can go round and round.  Protesting by permit supposedly assures safe and orderly demonstration.  Often Bonds must be put up to assure compensation for any ensuing damage.  This works well in  well ordered and lawful society, but not in one which is violent, exclusive and oppressive,  Sure you can have a demonstration, we've booked you a field beyond chain link fence under the viaducts well away from public sight and we'll arrest any of your sympathisers who so much as shows up in front of George Bush holding a T-shirt or raises their hand to ask an unauthorised question.  You've got to make your application at the local clerk's office the third Thursday before the event, between the hours of one thirty p.m. and  and two fifteen when the regular staff comes back from lunch and speak to the person who's out of the office until Three, there will be no exceptions. Ah Freedom!!!  You cannot deny what people cannot get, All the"GOOD" Americans are at the other demonstration any way, which didn't need a permit because its for the   government that controls these things. Nobody's heard of that outmoded rag, "the Constitution" in years; Bush keeps it wrapped in his custom fitted flag costume where none of the tatters appear to shown through.. except the shiny 2nd Amendment patch he's had enlarged to cover his butt.

Answer 6

The assemble permit is a farce, just like the private business license. Local authorities know they have no legal right to restrict the message, so they try to exercise control by regulating the size of the group.

The cops and judges also know that you need millions of dollars for lawyer fees if you want to fight city hall...and, in the end, the worse thing that can happen to them is having to expunge the criminal record.

The fix is in, for a long time now.

I was a radical when there were still liberals on the bench.

Too bad, so sad...we need the Patriot Act to protect us from our own people...