What’s the problem with freedom of assembly, Princeton Council?
On March 25, Planet Princeton reported on a proposal at a Princeton council meeting held on March 23, where officials discussed the possibility of modifying rules around public events.
The draft of the ordinance still needs to be published and we will pay close attention to its details. Based on the intention of these policies, though, we must take a stance on any possible regulations that aim to curb the exercise of our freedom of assembly.
One concerning point that was reportedly discussed is the 48-hour window for spontaneous protests without blocking streets. For a small town like Princeton, the places to assemble are already few. If something terrible like a local raid were to happen, and we were to call for a protest with people in the narrow sidewalks of Witherspoon Street, this would defeat the main purpose of a protest: to be visible.
On that same note, we outright reject any proposal that would confine protests to “designated places,” as if we were meant to be kept behind a window like caged pets in a shop. The people in our community are already deprived of their dignity by those who see us as poor souls to be saved, or worse. Policies signaling to “designated places” would be harmful to the struggle of immigrant workers who deserve to be heard everywhere.
Additionally, we are concerned about the mention of charging fees beyond a permit fee. In reference to staffing fees, does this mean that we have to pay Princeton police to protest? Under what guidelines would cleanup and lost parking fees be charged? We do not need to pay police to show up at our protests when officers already perform their work with our taxes. The potential for vagueness is also too great for regulations like these to be practical, and we would doubt their constitutionality.
Our Executive Director Ana Paola Pazmiño is clear on the freedom to protest: ”Any effort to restrict that would be a betrayal of our values,” she states. Restrictions on protests belong to an authoritarian government like this administration’s, not to a municipality that claims to advance progressive values.
There are plenty of good reasons why there may be more mobilizations in Princeton this year: abductions, war, and the economic downturn that plagues every family in our neighborhoods. The only way for these protests and rallies to slow down is not by restricting the places and time ranges of these actions, but by enacting meaningful policies that protect our communities, including immigrants. In most cases, this may go beyond the municipality’s jurisdiction, but the least that our local authorities could do, in that case, is to keep allowing us to manifest our opposition to the current federal administration and the destructive effects of their policies. The Princeton council should recognize that, instead of presenting a draft that could stain our freedom of speech.
Resistencia en Acción NJ
