Is it legal for Americans to protest outside Embassies in the US?

Question

I know you want to answer this quickly. In the movie Fahrenheit 911 the Secret Service came right away when Michael Moore was outside the Saudi Embassy. That seemed strange. We rarely hear on the news of Americans protesting outside embassies. Anyone know what the ground rules are for protesting outside an embassy?

Answer 1

Ugg... Lesson number 1: Movies aren't real.

You're allowed to protest about whatever, wherever you want in America. That's called the First Amendment.

However, there are guidelines. For example, it must be peaceful. There are others along with that, but I don't know them off the top of my head.

Answer 2

What you must remember is that when you are in another country they have different rules and laws than we have in the United States. Whatever you do please find out the laws of the country you are visiting or you may find yourself in jail. If I was in a country like Saudi Arabia the last thing I would want to do would be to bring attention to my self.  Really I would do everything to honor their cultures and laws and rules, because Americans in most parts of the world are not liked very much.

Answer 3

It could be considered legal provided Such protest is

Documented with the City Officials and maintins Certain

Guidelines so as not to impede with the duties of an Embassy or Cousulate....Remember, Such an Embassy or

Consulate is considered a Foreign Country and they have

a right to be able to be represented and defend their own

soil up to a certain extent

Answer 4

It depends what you mean by right outside the Embassy.  Like any other property owner, a foreign country owns the lot on which an embassy is located.  More importantly, under international law, that entire lot is considered to be part of the sovereign territory of the nation that owns the Embassy.  If you are on private property, you can be arrested for trespass or asked to leave.

Assuming that we are talking near the Embassy but off of the property of the Embassy, the same rules would apply to a protest near an Embassy as would apply to any other protest.  Namely, are you in a place that is considered to be a public forum (and most public streets and sidewalks meet this test) and are you interfering with the use of those sidewalks by others?  

My hunch is that you rarely hear about it unless there is something that makes it particularly newsworthy.  When I lived in New York, there were regular protests near the United Nations and Missions (the equivalent of an Embassy) to the U.N.  Simply put, in Washington and New York, protests are part of the background noise and you could almost do a scroll at the bottom of the TV screen saying where today's protests took place.

Answer 5

You look at to much TV