NCA/ANSWER filing Federal Lawsuit for Central Park demo during RNC
Via the NCA listserv
The attorneys for the National Council of Arab Americans (NCA) are filing a free speech lawsuit in New York City in defense of the First Amendment and constitutional rights.
In January 2004, the NCA filed a permit application for a mass demonstration on the Great Lawn in Central Park for August 28, the 41st anniversary of the historic civil rights March on Washington in 1963. The purpose of the event was to rally in defense of civil rights and civil liberties particularly for the Arab American and Muslim communities.
Thousands of Arab Americans and Muslims in the United States have had their rights routinely violated by the Bush-Ashcroft administration, which has used the events of September 11 as a pretext to implement a system of unconstitutional racial and religious profiling.
In response to the denial of the permit, the NCA and the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War & End Racism) are filing a major lawsuit in the Federal District Court in New York City to support the right of assembly in the Great Lawn in Central Park for all those who are expressing political opposition to the domestic program and war policies of the Bush administration in the days before and during the Republican National Convention.