They have the right to speak out and protest. - Drediock
Dred, Its like so many things that seem simple on the face of it... that turn out not to be as simple as you might think.
Sure, in our country, we honor the long standing right of free speech. But there are limitations. You have to have a plan, you have to show the authorities your plan and have it approved by them because you have charged them with public safety ( remember, you
sue them if you feel that they haven't used due care to protect the public, right????) Then you are obligated to follow the plan you submitted.
Sooooo, you must obey the limitations. You can't block I-95 with your protest, for example. Does that make sense to you? It is against the law to block lawful travel and commerce that way - it infringes on the rights and safety of others.
If that makes sense, maybe you could agree that certain restrictions on the right to assemble and for free speech might be appropriate?
So the parties in Miami agreed to have the demonstration at a certain place and to end the demonstration at a certain time for the sake of public safety.
Except they don't end it, and they don't stay where they were supposed to.
Now what do you do? You can't just sit on the curb and wring your hands. That wouldn't be good, Drediock. Inaction only emboldens the elements that want chaos. The same people in that very protest would sue your prettythang off for failure to act to protect the public.
So allow me to tell you how to react to that situation. You end it as quickly and with as little injury as possible. You don't plead. You don't beg. You act with overwhelming force. This results in the fewest injuries. The problem is snuffed out just like it was in Miami.
If that was so wrong, why were these fine upstanding men and women from South Florida law enforcement who did their jobs not thrown in prison? Oh sure, there was a lot of weeping, threats of lawsuits and gnashing of teeth. but nothing became of any of it.
No, the issue is that you do not understand the nature of propaganda, or the laws relating to public assembly. In this case, it wouldn't be too far out to say it was a matter of national security. The President of the United States was not far from there at the time, along with many other heads of state - in a post 911 world.
There were many injuries in this demonstration by the way - both civilian and police.
It is very simple. The rules were agreed on before hand. The protesters broke the rules. Those charged with the public order immediately shut them down. It was actually a nice piece of police work. If you've ever been in a demonstration that was out of hand, or in a riot, you would appreciate it.
