On August 30th the Republican National Convention takes place in mid-town Manhattan. Like those inside the convention hall, people gathered outside also have a right to be seen and heard.Make a gift to the NYCLU today to help ensure that everyone has the right to speak, demonstrate and march at the RNC. Contribute online. The presidential election of 2004 will be fiercely contested. And the drama will play out in the streets surrounding Madison Square Garden – the site of the Republican National Convention. That’s why the NYCLU needs you to help us launch Protecting Protest: a campaign to protect free speech and expression at the RNC. We can’t take these rights for granted. Last year, on the eve of the Iraq invasion, a federal court said New York City could deny a permit for a peace march. Instead organizers held a peace rally, which was met with a brutal police presence. Mounted police rode horses recklessly into crowds. The NYPD choked off routes of access to the rally and arrested people who were merely trying to reach the demonstration site. Hundreds were held for hours in frigid police vans, and while still in custody they were grilled about their political associations and activities. We must not let this happen again. The NYCLU’s Protecting Protest campaign will oppose efforts to corral demonstrations in gated pens . . . to mark off “protest-free” zones that keep demonstrators out of sight . . . to frustrate advocacy groups from getting demonstration permits. But we need your support to carry out this ambitious plan. Our Protecting Protest campaign has 5 key elements: Negotiate demonstration permits and secure march routes for advocacy groups – and if the City is uncooperative, take the matter to court. Conduct a massive Know Your Rights campaign for advocates, students and the general public. We’ll distribute thousands of brochures on the rights of demonstrators, and we’ll maintain a RNC web page that explains the scope of protected First Amendment activities. Continue litigation efforts that challenge the NYPD’s practice of using steel barricades to block access to demonstration sites and confine demonstrators in pens, using horses recklessly as a crowd-control technique, and searching of demonstrators without suspicion of wrongdoing. Draft a Memorandum of Understanding in cooperation with federal and local officials in order to ensure that demonstrators can speak, assemble and march without undue police interference. Deploy a First Amendment brigade to observe and report on the public demonstrations in the streets surrounding the convention site. We’ll maintain a civil-liberties storefront headquarters nearby, staffed with volunteer lawyers, students and organizers.
The RNC will test New York City’s commitment to the First Amendment. Like the First Amendment, the NYCLU is non-partisan. Our Protecting Protest campaign is not about political advocacy. It’s about making sure that all points of view can be seen and heard. We will be a visible advocate in the streets on behalf of full participation in what promises to be a momentous political debate. The world will be watching. The NYPD says that First Amendment rights will be respected. The NYCLU will hold city officials accountable. Please support our campaign to keep speech free at the RNC! By making a contribution today, you will help give the NYCLU a presence in the streets at the convention site. You will help us mobilize a free-speech brigade. You will help us protect First Amendment rights at this extraordinary moment in history. Contribute onlineIf ever there was a time to support the NYCLU, this is it.We won’t be able to accomplish our campaign goals without your help. Please make a generous contribution today. | 
