Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 16:14:06 -0500
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: NYPD will enforce no-mask rule against World Forum protesters
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At 5:09 PM -0500 1/28/02, Marc Rotenberg wrote:
>"The injury to speech is heightened for the petition circulator

>because the badge requirement compels personal name

>identification at the precise moment when the circulator's

>interest in anonymity is greatest."

>

>ACLF v. Colorado, 525 U.S. 182, 200 (1999) (holding that

>the state may not compel a person circulating a political

>petition to wear a name badge)




<http: 
//www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--worldforum-protes012 
8jan28.story>

Police say they'll enforce no-mask rule against World Forum protesters
By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer

January 28, 2002, 4:18 PM EST

NEW YORK -- Bracing for large-scale protests at the World Economic 
Forum, the NYPD said Monday it would enforce an 1845 law barring 
demonstrators from wearing masks.

Chief of Patrol Joseph Esposito said the department would strictly 
enforce state law prohibiting three or more protesters from hiding 
their faces.

"Three or more with masks and they're marching * they're under 
arrest," Esposito said while outlining security measures with 
reporters.
The warning could heighten tensions between the 40,000-officer force, 
the nation's largest, and the thousands of demonstrators expected to 
take to the streets starting Thursday, when the world's political and 
business elite begin arriving in midtown Manhattan for the four-day 
event.

Protest organizers say many demonstrators plan to don costumes or 
march with giant, papier-mache puppets * some worn over their heads * 
to emphasize their anti-globalization message.

"They're going to have to arrest thousands and thousands of people," 
said David Graeber of the Anti-Capitalist Convergence, an anarchist 
group. "It's not going to be good."

Nearly 4,000 police officers will be deployed to secure the streets 
around the Waldorf-Astoria hotel on Park Avenue, the WEF 
headquarters. Hundreds more will protect foreign dignitaries, 
including Afghanistan leader Hamid Karzai, and visiting chief 
executives like Bill Gates as they move about the city.

Partly as a show of solidarity with a city stricken by terrorism, the 
economic talks are being held in New York instead of the quiet Swiss 
ski resort of Davos, where the forum has been held for 31 years. 
Sponsors said they believe New York police will be able to control 
the demonstrators and prevent them from shutting down the conference.

"We are concerned, but on the other hand we are in very good hands," 
Klaus Schwab, the conference's founder and president, told reporters 
Monday.

Representatives of some groups that protested at last year's event 
will be inside the conference as guests participating in some events. 
Forum officials declined to name the groups.

Police commanders said they expect the street demonstrations to 
remain mostly peaceful. They have met with leaders of some protest 
groups, granting permits to demonstrate in designated areas near the 
Waldorf-Astoria and elsewhere.

But officials also have warned of the possibility of clashes like 
those seen at similar trade forums in Seattle and Quebec, where more 
militant protesters vandalized storefronts.

"We're prepared for the small percentage that are bent on destruction 
of property," Esposito said.

The promised crackdown on masks relies on a state law dating to the 
mid-19th century, when tenant farmers wore disguises during protests 
and riots against their landlords before escaping to the countryside.

While planning a Manhattan rally in 1999, the Ku Klux Klan challenged 
the no-mask order, which was overturned by a District Court judge 
before being upheld by a federal appeals court. At the rally, 16 Klan 
members appeared in white hats and robes, but left their faces 
exposed.

Copyright © 2002, The Associated Press


Distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in
receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.
---



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