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Council hears 'voluntary' plan to check Minneapolis protests
Council Member Paul Ostrow cited demonstrations that "shut down" Seattle in '99. Others said he was sowing panic.
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Warning of the consequences "if protesters are allowed to run wild" during the Republican National Convention, Minneapolis City Council Member Paul Ostrow Wednesday offered a "voluntary" plan to regulate demonstrations in the city.
The plan drew praise from business organizations and police and quick condemnation from protest groups.
Three of Ostrow's fellow council members also criticized the plan at a hearing in which Ostrow cited anti-globalism protests in 1999 when the "city of Seattle was shut down."
Council Member Gary Schiff said such remarks "reflect panic," which Ostrow denied.
Ostrow proposed a "voluntary registration plan" for sidewalk protests, but Council Member Cam Gordon said it actually was a mandatory plan because groups must get approval for public assemblies for more than 50 people in which pedestrians are unable to use the sidewalks.
Although Minneapolis currently regulates street parades, it has no rules on sidewalk protests.
While there would be no penalty for failure to register under Ostrow's plan, the city could deny a permit for the action. A police decision "to disperse or arrest assembly participants shall not be based solely on the fact that a plan has not been approved for the assembly," the proposal says.
Police Chief Tim Dolan said police "feel very comfortable" with the proposal. Also backing it were the Minneapolis Regional Chamber of Commerce, Greater Minneapolis Building Owners and Managers Association and the Downtown Council.
Protest groups said there were sufficient laws on the books and the proposal was unfairly restrictive.
Ostrow said he plans revisions, and Gordon said he will propose "completely voluntary" registration when the public safety and regulatory services committee takes more public testimony on May 21.
Randy Furst • 612-673-7382
Featured comment
It is nice to see the coverage of this issue that came before the City Council's Public Safwty and Regulatory Services Committee today. … read more It should also be noted that those opposed to the plan included people who did not come from protest groups, although it was was very useful to hear from them. These included Bill McCarthy, President of the Minneapolis Central Labor Union Council, and a gradudate student studying urban spaces and the subtle but far reaching effect regulation can have on political discourse as part of daily life, who also spoke in opposition to the Ostrow resolution.
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