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LOCAL Announcement :: Protest Activity

City Again Attempts to Quash Peace / Immigrant Rights Protesters' Right to Demonstrate

Press Conference: 1:30 PM, Tuesday, February 3
Western lobby of the Richard J. Daley Center
50 W. Washington Street, Chicago
CHICAGO -- After peace / immigrants protesters won an unprecedented victory last week in their appeal of the City of Chicago's rejection of their parade permit application, the City struck back today by filing in Circuit Court for an emergency stay of last week's decision. A hearing on the City's motion will be held at 2 PM, Tuesday, February 3 in Courtroom 1107 of the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 W. Washington Street. Peace and immigrant rights activists will hold a press conference immediately preceding the hearing at 1:30 PM, Tuesday in the western lobby of the Richard J. Daley Center.

At issue is whether peace / immigrant rights activists will be able to hold a march in the Pilsen / Little Village neighborhoods on the 6th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. The annual rally and march, which has encountered repeated hostility from city officials over the years, is currently scheduled to begin at 12 noon, Saturday, March 14th at the corner of Marshall Boulevard and Cermak Road (2900 W, 2200 S) with a march to the Little Village neighborhood and a closing rally near the intersection of 18th, Blue Island and Loomis Streets.

Activists who filed for the parade permit contend that the City's rejection of their permit application, and now the City's appeal after being rebuked by one of its own Administrative Law Officers, is part of a continuing pattern to gut protesters' right to exercise 1st Amendment freedoms to assemble and speak out on issues of the day.

During the appeal hearing, Assistant Director of Transportation Michael Simon testified that in his nine-year career of processing over 18,000 applications, he had rejected barely two dozen -- at least six of which were made by peace / immigrant rights activists. During the appeal hearing, activists showed that the City has repeatedly accommodated far greater demands on city resources for other public events, and that City claims that it could not accommodate peace / immigrant rights activists' events were spurious.

Among those speaking at the press conference will be Pilsen area activists Magda Castañeda and Maria Gamboa of Comité Anti-Militarización (CAMI), and Rafael Cervantes of both La Otra and CAMI.
 
 

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