ACLU & NLG Groups Sue Over DNC "Free Speech Zone" aka Boston's Camp X-Ray

Boston is known as the birthplace of US democracy. But many activist groups and civil liberties organization"s say that tradition is being trampled on by the security apparatus that has been amassed here in Boston to guard the Democratic National Convention. Yesterday, there was a large permitted rally sponsored by the ANSWER coalition. There was a sizable presence of riot police and other security forces. Largely, the march passed without a major incident. But at the very end of the procession through Boston, police arrested one demonstrator in an incident that his lawyers are saying was a case of racial profiling. Here is how a local activist, Scott Cooper, who witnessed the arrest described the scene.

Scott Cooper, who witnessed the arrest yesterday of one of the demonstrators at the antiwar march.
With the exception of a handful of permitted marches and rallies, people who want to demonstrate their views during the DNC have been told they are free to do so, but only from the discomfort of a so-called free speech zone. Protest organizers refer to it as an internment camp or a detention center. The area the authorities have designated as the official protest area is enclosed by a maze of overhead netting, razor wire and chain link fence. The FleetCenter, where the convention is taking place, is barely visible through the abandoned elevated rail lines and green girders overhead. At this weekend"s Boston Social Forum, there was quite a bit of discussion about the protest pit. Here is South African poet Dennis Brutus speaking at the forum yesterday.


South African poet Dennis Brutus, speaking yesterday at the Boston Social Forum.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Douglas P. Woodlock called the conditions for protesters in Boston "an affront to free expression" and a "festering boil." But he refused to order changes to the so-called free speech zone. In response, a coalition of protest groups and civil liberties organizations has appealed to the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Meanwhile, late last week authorities announced they were lowering the maximum number of protesters allowed in the pit from 4,000 down to 1,000, they said because of concerns of overcrowding. So far it appears that the only people that have actually gone into the pit have been activists protesting the official protest area.
Urszula Masny-Latos, executive director of the National Lawyers Guild's Massachusetts chapter.

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http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/07/26/145248