New NATO/G8 Ordinances Proposed by Emanuel Would Become Permanent

By aaroncynic in News on Jan 3, 2012 3:15PM

When Mayor Emanuel introduced changes to the city’s parade ordinances last month that would increase fines for violations at protests and change park hours ahead of the NATO/G8 summits, he said the changes were “temporary…just for the conference and it’s appropriate.” The Tribune reports the mayor’s office acknowledged yesterday however, that those changes would be permanent. In addition to a major increase in fines, the ordinance would also now reduce the hours for a legal demonstration to two hours.

Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy said “Our goal is to ensure that participants and safe summits and that the First Amendment rights of those that wish to protest are protected.” The new rules however, will make demonstrations more difficult and give police an opportunity to impose harsh sanctions on protestors. Harvey Grossman, legal director for the ACLU of Illinois told the Trib:

“It's clear the more stringent the provisions, the more numerous, the greater the difficulty in complying with those provisions. It's an unnecessary show of authority and something that will have very little meaning in terms of altering conduct.”