Austin going Republican?

In case a "protest by not even showing up" campaign didn't work, Austin police set up a barrier so that nobody could see a KKK rally. Might as well have told the KKK that they could have the podium in the middle of the woods. Anyway, the plan worked, no violence or riots, which is a good thing. However, why not just ban the KKK from speaking instead of going through this elaborate exercise to deny speech being heard?

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Austin police sued over anti-Klan protest
11/7/2005 5:37 PM
By: Hermelinda Vargas

The hate group visiting Austin this weekend has come and gone, but the effects of their visit may play itself out in the courtroom in the weeks and months ahead..

Eight Austinites are now suing the city for what they claim was a violation of their First Amendment rights. They say the violations occurred during the Ku Klux Klan's rally at City Hall Plaza on Saturday.

The individuals are Alex Costilla, Ken Zarifis, Debbie Russell, Charles Brown, Isa Boonto, Nick Papatonis, Pam Thompson and Spencer Nutting. The lawsuit is filed on behalf of the Texas Civil Rights Project.

Costilla calls himself a “hobby historian.”

"I was at the last two Klan rallies in ‘93 and ‘94 and I figured this was of historical significance what happened this past Saturday. So I came out here just to get a little bit of history," he said.

Instead, what Costilla got is a view towards the City Hall Plaza from Colorado and Cesar Chavez. A police barricade kept him and others from going any further to witness or voice their message to the Klan directly. He said that's a violation of his First Amendment rights.

"Not only could we not hear them, we couldn't even see them," he said.

But what the plaintiffs see as free speech violations, the city sees as necessary to protect the peace.

"The police department felt like they needed to secure the safety of individuals that were going to be here, both people in the Klan and the counter-protestors," city of Austin chief of litigation Anne Morgan said.

On Saturday, Austin Police Chief Stan Knee called the area between the hate group and the counter-demonstrators a safety zone. Morgan reiterated that idea.

"That's the way it is with the KKK. Because there is that history of violence and so they do have a separation," Morgan said.

The situation had about 14 of the hate group members in City Hall Plaza with about 200 police in riot gear guarding various barricades. The closest counter-demonstrators were about 40 feet away from the opposite side of the street. The media was allowed closer in, but only with city credentials.

On Saturday, Knee told the press he was proud of his department and of Austinites because violence was averted. But what Knee claims is a victory, Costilla sees as a loss because he believes the city thought too much of safety and not about the rights of free assembly and free speech.

At least two plaintiffs said they are suing the city because of its media credential policy for the protest. Both are independent documentary filmmakers and said the policy was made up at the last minute to exclude non-mainstream media.

The city said it only asked for two letters of recommendation from news organizations that had previously hired freelancers. The two freelancers counter that policy was made up two days before the weekend event.