ACLU sues over laws governing G-8 protests

<p>The American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit Monday against the city of Brunswick and Glynn County on behalf of G-8 summit protesters, arguing new laws requiring permits for groups of six or more illegally restrict free speech.</p><p>The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, where thousands of protesters are expected to gather next month when President Bush meets with world leaders June 8-10 at Sea Island on Georgia's coast.</p><p>The new laws, passed in March, require groups of six or more to put up deposits equal to estimated costs for clean up and police protection. They prohibit carrying signs larger than 2-by-3 feet, or on sticks that could be brandished as weapons.</p><p>The laws state permits can be denied if a protest is deemed likely to congest traffic, disturb the peace or "burden lawful commerce."</p><p>The ACLU sued 18 days after a three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals struck down a similar protest law in Augusta. The ACLU filed that suit on behalf of women's activist Martha Burk, who battled restrictions last year that kept protesters a half-mile away from the Masters golf tournament.</p><p>"These ordinances are similar to Augusta's, but they go much farther," said Gerry Weber, legal director of the Georgia ACLU. "Augusta did not have a cost provision. Augusta did not have nearly these vague standards for denying a permit. This is Augusta times three, at least."</p><p>With the summit barely a month away, the Brunswick lawsuit seeks a judge's injunction suspending the laws while the case is argued in court.</p><p>The 11th Circuit judges, in their April 15 decision, took specific aim at Augusta-Richmond County's requirement of protest permits for groups of as few as five people.</p><p>"The County cannot seriously believe that political expression involving as few as five people is likely to disrupt traffic, disturb the peace, threaten public safety and require advance notice to public officials," the judges wrote.</p><p>Gary Moore, attorney for Glynn County, declined to comment on the lawsuit, saying he hadn't seen it. But he defended the county's law.</p><p>"We wouldn't have passed it had we not thought it would meet constitutional muster," Moore said. "We're trying to protect everybody's property and everybody's safety" in addition to freedom of speech</p><p>Lynn Frey III, city attorney for Brunswick, did not immediately return a phone call seek comment.</p><p>Located 60 miles south of Savannah, Brunswick is the nearest mainland city to Sea Island, a resort where Bush and other leaders will be shielded from protests during the summit by a massive security force.</p><p>The ACLU filed suit on behalf of the Rev. Zack Lyde, a Brunswick Baptist minister helping to organize several protest events during the G-8, including the Fair World Fair, a carnival-like gathering expected to draw several thousand.</p><p>"I don't believe personally you should have to go to your knees and beg folks for permission to cook in the park, pray in the park or organize in the park," Lyde said.</p><p>Bill Jones III, chief executive of summit hosts the Sea Island Company, has offered protesters nine acres of private land in Brunswick for the event.</p><p>But the ACLU's Weber noted private property owners aren't beholden to the First Amendment and could boot protesters off their land at will. Permit applications are still pending for protests on public property.</p><p>The ACLU may file a separate lawsuit against Savannah and Chatham County, which both revamped their protest laws in February in anticipation of summit demonstrations. Savannah will house about 5,000 international delegates and reporters during the summit.</p><p>The ACLU sent a letter to Savannah and the county last month, as well as Brunswick and Glynn County, seeking voluntary changes to their protest ordinances.</p><p>Weber said he expects a Savannah lawsuit "very soon, unless something changes dramatically."</p>

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