NEW YORK CITY – This week, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani must sign or veto legislation directing the New York Police Department to establish new rules restricting protest outside houses of worship and schools. The New York Civil Liberties Union urged the Mayor to veto the bills, issuing the following response attributable to Executive Director Donna Lieberman:
“The City Council’s bills are an attack on free speech at a time when New Yorkers are taking to the streets to speak out in historic numbers. These bills risk outlawing protest across large swathes of the five boroughs. From Stonewall to No Kings, protest is in the DNA of our city. The Mayor should honor that legacy and veto these bills.”
“These bills also do nothing to make New Yorkers safer; we already have laws against harassment and intimidation on the books. Instead, no-speech zones would put us at risk by flooding protests with police and escalating tensions — a move that threatens a binding legal settlement with the City, reached by the NYCLU and others, to protect protest in the aftermath of sweeping NYPD misconduct and rights violations during the George Floyd protests.
“The threat of a massive police presence around educational institutions — defined so broadly and vaguely to encompass not just every school and university, but also libraries, teaching hospitals, and more — is particularly concerning for Black and brown New Yorkers, as it threatens to turn going to school or accessing medical care into an encounter with the police.
“At a time when the Trump regime is targeting peaceful protestors for arrest, violence, and deportation, and when so many New Yorkers are speaking out, the City should defend our speech rights, not needlessly aid Trump’s authoritarian agenda.”
In addition to fighting anti-speech legislation at the New York City Council, the NYCLU has also been opposing state legislation to restrict protest. Today, the NYCLU held a rally and press conference at the statehouse and issued statements of opposition with labor, reproductive rights, and education organizations, as well as elected officials.
