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Originally Posted by dashrendar4454
Gastanaga said the role of the ACLU is to ensure that the system works the same for everyone.
“We asked the city to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and ensure people’s safety at the protest. It failed to do so,” she wrote.
Gastanaga said that it is the responsibility of law enforcement to ensure safety of both protesters and counter-protesters. She went on to say that policing on Saturday was not effective in preventing violence.
“I was there and brought concerns directly to the secretary of public safety and the head of the Virginia State Police about the way that the barricades in the park limiting access by the arriving demonstrators and the lack of any physical separation of the protesters and counter-protesters on the street were contributing to the potential of violence,” said Gastanaga. “They did not respond. In fact, law enforcement was standing passively by, seeming to be waiting for violence to take place, so that they would have grounds to declare an emergency, declare an ‘unlawful assembly’ and clear the area.”
ACLU of Virginia said they hope that McAuliffe and other state and local officials will learn from last weekend’s deadly event.
“It is my firm hope and desire that the governor and other state and local officials will learn from this past weekend how constitutionally to prevent events like the horror we saw in Charlottesville from ever happening again,” Gastanaga wrote.
ACLU fires back at Gov. McAuliffe after comments on violence at Charlottesville rally | WTVR.com |
The ACLU defends the Constitutional rights of anyone who needs it. They defended Rush Limbaugh, if you recall.
1A says everyone has the right to Free Speech, unimpeded by the government, which cannot legally prevent them from assembling and speaking. Feedback positive or negative is up to the members of their audience who are not under the same constraints and cannot possibly violate 1A.
If they are assembling to incite violence (flying a flag with a swastika may come under this heading) is a different animal entirely, just like yelling "Fire!" in the proverbial theater.
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