Talya wrote:
I also am firmly against any such peaceful assembly or protest inconveniencing other people and thereby treading on their rights. Protestors who clog streets, (or striking workers who block company entranceways), anybody who uses their right to free speech and assembly as a shield to try to get away with interfering with other people, is no longer protected by that right and should be fair game for a little police brutality. People blocking the police in the process of performing their legitimate duties are no longer expressing their ideas or peacefully assembling, they are obstructing.
Exactly. I've watched live feeds of Occupy Boston, and they'd clog the streets and shut them down once they realized the police would not raid them that night. It's illegal and I'm glad they were all arrested or driven out.
Khross wrote:
Peaceably is not synonymous with peacefully. The Constitution guarantees the former, not the latter. Unfortunately for all of the police officers involved, the protest as shown in that video is peaceable. Of course, none of that matters because Congress and the Courts have vacated almost the entirety of the First Amendment already.
The first amendment isn't the right the block other's movements. I would be perfectly fine if they protested off to the side somewhere. Of course in this specific instance I think the police went way overboard with the usage of pepper spray.
Basically, the ability for vehicles and people to get from Point A to Point B is
much more important than the petty concerns of these protesters. What if ambulances had to get through? What if a shipment has to be made before a plane takes off, and the truck can't get to its destination in time, so people don't get their medicine delivered? And so on.