First Amendment Zone: How to protest (or not) at the RNC in Jacksonville – The Florida Times-Union

Mayor Lenny Currys bill will limit protests to a designated "First Amendment Zone."

A just-filed bill setting up plans for the 2020 Republican National Convention next month details how and where protesters and supporters can gather downtown, assuming the convention still happens.

The bill faces its own significant challenges after City Council President Tommy Hazouri announced his opposition Wednesday evening, putting the bills chances of passing at risk.

If that bill does pass, however, it would designate what areas of downtown can be used for the conventions celebration event, where a free-speech zone would be set up and where protesters can receive permits to take to the street.

The Republican National Convention is scheduled to take place downtown at several venues from Aug. 24 through Aug. 27. It was initially scheduled for Charlotte, but President Trump moved it after the North Carolina governor said he couldnt guarantee guests would be able to fill Spectrum Center because of coronavirus concerns.

Some parts of the bill will affect the whole city, like a temporary change allowing more time for alcohol sales, from 6 a.m. to 4 a.m.

The "Convention Celebration Complex would make up nearly 140 acres around TIAA Bank Field and the surrounding parking lots.

A few blocks away, the city would designate a four-acre "First Amendment Zone." The city said it was necessary to "establish specific areas designated for free speech," while limiting speech elsewhere.

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Limiting protests to a specific zone set apart from the convention is necessary, the bill said, to "promote and protect the general safety and welfare of the residents of and visitors to of the City during the Convention while also allowing persons and organizations to exercise their First Amendment rights to peacefully assemble and parade."

The mile-long parade route, a designated area for protesters to take to the streets from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day, will be near A. Philip Randolph and the Arlington Expressway, coming off the Mathews Bridge, just blocks away from where Randolph, a labor organizer who orchestrated the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, grew up.

The parade route would require protesters obtain a permit, which would allow them to march for up to one hour and stick to a small area far removed from the conventions venues. Protesters wont be allowed to use bullhorns.

In the convention celebration complex, the city would allow the Republican National Committee to sell liquor with no corkage fees, and the city would waive its open container laws within the convention security zone.

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First Amendment Zone: How to protest (or not) at the RNC in Jacksonville - The Florida Times-Union