The American Civil Liberties Union of Washington today is filing its second lawsuit in United States District Court in Seattle challenging the City of Seattle’s establishment of a No Protest Zone during the meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on December 1-3, 1999. The lawsuit challenges the imposition of the zone, its extension, and the manner of its enforcement. The ACLU filed the case on behalf of seven citizens whose rights to freedom of speech were violated by the City’s actions.
Plaintiffs include individuals who were either kept out or forced out of the No Protest Zone solely because they had anti-WTO cartoons, buttons, stickers, or signs. Two plaintiffs were arrested while expressing their views. One of these, who had WTO conference credentials as a representative of a Non-Governmental Organization, was chased by police and arrested while talking to a reporter and citizens about his objections to WTO actions. Another was tackled and arrested by police after handing out copies of a New York Times editorial cartoon critical of WTO environmental policies.
One plaintiff had copies of the First Amendment that he was handing out to other citizens confiscated by police. Another individual twice had signs taken away by Seattle police, including one that said, "I Have a Right to Non-Violent Protest." One plaintiff had an anti-WTO sign ripped from his clothing by police, and another was grabbed by police and threatened with arrest if she did not remove a protest sticker she was wearing. (A full list of plaintiffs and violations of their civil liberties is included with this release.)
"The City essentially created a militarized zone in downtown Seattle and banned all protest within this zone. An American city must not get away with such flagrant violations of citizens’ freedoms. We intend to obtain a court ruling that the City’s actions were unconstitutional and cannot be repeated," said Kathleen Taylor, Executive Director of the ACLU of Washington.
In the late afternoon of November 30, Seattle Mayor Paul Schell proclaimed a Civil Emergency. The next morning he issued a Civil Emergency Order (described as a "limited curfew" order) creating a militarized zone in an area of two dozen blocks in the core of downtown Seattle. Police patrolled the borders of the zone and restricted entry to persons who had official WTO business, owners and employees of businesses within the zone, residents of the zone, and emergency and public safety personnel. In enforcing the zone, police prevented anyone who sought peacefully to express anti-WTO views from entering or remaining in the zone.
"The City made it a crime to engage in perfectly lawful acts of free speech. In establishing and enforcing the No Protest Zone, the City took action far beyond any needed for legitimate concerns to provide security." said Aaron Caplan, ACLU staff attorney.
"We acknowledge the City’s responsibility to provide security for WTO conference attendees. We know it can be done without the drastic measures we witnessed in Seattle. Mass demonstrations are not new to this country. Seattle must be a place that is safe for conventions and for freedom," said the ACLU’s Kathleen Taylor. During the WTO conference, the ACLU unsuccessfully sought a temporary restraining order nullifying the No Protest Zone. In his December 1, 1999 order denying the motion, Judge Robert Bryan of the U.S. District Court in Tacoma noted, "This order does not preclude the possibility that, when all of the facts and issues are examined in further litigation, the defendants’ action may be proven wrong." The ACLU believes that, with a full airing of the issues, the court will see the constitutional problems of the No Protest Zone.
Cooperating attorney James Lobsenz of the firm Carney Badley Smith & Spellman and ACLU staff attorney Aaron Caplan are handling the case.