US Attacks Free Speech With Plan to Charge Protesters on Public Property - Rights Group
A proposal by the Trump administration to charge protesters a fee to demonstrate on National Park land, including areas facing the White House, reflects an attempt to stifle constitutional protections of assembly and speech, the human rights group Freedom House charged in a press release on Friday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th October, 2018) A proposal by the Trump administration to charge protesters a fee to demonstrate on National Park land, including areas facing the White House, reflects an attempt to stifle constitutional protections of assembly and speech, the human rights group Freedom House charged in a press release on Friday.
"Proposals to charge demonstrators a fee for protests on public land in Washington are subtle but deeply disturbing attacks on the freedoms of speech and assembly," Freedom House President Michael Abramowitz said in the release. "The right to peaceful protest is a crucial democratic value."
Freedom House called the proposal a "tax on protests."
In September, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke opened for public comment a plan to charge groups sponsoring protests management fees to cover the cost of crowd control barricades, fencing, trash removal and issuing permits.