The Miami City Commission is struggling to walk the fine line between maintaining public safety and upholding the First Amendment's free-speech rights in its revised ordinance on street protests. It's an admirable struggle.
With the Free Trade Area of the Americas ministerial meeting coming to Miami on Nov. 19, the city wanted to update its law on public demonstrations and assemblies to give police the necessary tools for crowd control and to ensure demonstrators' rights. Striking the right balance between these two principles is as old as the U.S. Constitution but as relevant as ever, given the vicious tactics of small groups of anti-globalization protesters at recent international trade meetings. These groups promote anarchy and destruction, and they can contaminate and endanger peaceful demonstrators.
The city has done a reasonable job of amending the proposed ordinance that was initially adopted. The first effort was overly broad in its attempts to restrict legitimate protest to control those who intentionally provoke violence. Make no mistake, there will be dedicated rabble-rousers amid the demonstrators. Their goals are to inflict damage on people and property, and mainly to disrupt the orderly functioning of FTAA meetings. Residents of Seattle, Quebec City and Cancún, all hosts of previous global trade meetings, know this all too well.
The revisions removed the ban on bullet-proof vests and gas masks, thus allowing peaceful protesters and journalists to carry protective gear. Other changes broaden the definitions for permissible signs and other protest paraphernalia while still banning items that can be used as weapons, such as glass bottles, rocks and slingshots. If adopted, the revised ordinance won't sunset after the FTAA meeting as originally intended. Instead, it will apply to future demonstrations, thus setting sensible ground rules for police and protesters.
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