“Kadner: When government decides how people can protest” @ Southtown Star

Posted on April 30, 2012

Phil Kadner — April 29, 2012: “Elected officials in Crete claim they’re worried about protesters from Chicago’s NATO Summit invading their quiet suburb next month.

That’s the excuse they’re using for proposing an ordinance that would require organizers of any public protest to purchase $5 million in insurance, obtain a parade permit in advance and pay for security costs of $70 an hour for a police car and $200 an hour for a village fire truck.

The ordinance has nothing to do with recent demonstrations about an immigration detention facility proposed for Crete, village officials contend.

People protesting the detention center claim the ordinance violates their constitutional rights to free speech and peaceable assembly.

The First Amendment is a glorious ideal, but I think government officials in recent weeks have made it pretty clear that it has little meaning for them.

If you’ve been reading news reports about the NATO Summit, you are aware that protesters may be kept more than two blocks from McCormick Place, where the meetings would take place. Demonstrators can shout, hold up signs and pass out literature, but the representatives of NATO won’t have to hear or see them…………………………………………..”

Read more at Southtown Star.